HYDERABAD: With the increase in the number of shady blood donors in the city, particularly after Covid-19, patients and their relatives are being taken for a ride on a daily basis. Taking advantage of the desperate situation, donors of questionable credentials ask for money from relatives in the name of transport charges and abscond.
Sakshi (name changed) wanted AB negative blood, a rarest type of blood group, for the orthopaedic surgery of her relative at Srikara Hospital in Miyapur. Learning about her requirement through a request on social media, two donors called her on the number provided with it and asked for Rs 700 and Rs 200 each for travelling.
Worried over losing the donors, she forwarded the money and waited for hours on the premises of the hospital. Both the donors blocked Sakshi and stopped picking up calls from all unknown numbers. Another woman from Karimnagar borrowed Rs 1500 to give to a fraud donor who promised to provide four donors for dialysis treatment for her husband in Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS). The donor never showed up.
“The number of such incidents has increased after the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Bandi Sravan, who runs Hyderabad Blood Donors, an NGO that helps connect patients’ relatives with blood donors from various social media platforms since 2014. “When plasma requirements surged during the pandemic, people started paying donors in their eagerness to get the plasma as quickly as possible. Some even paid Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh to save the lives of their dear ones,” Sravan explained. Later, even though it was proved that the plasma therapy was ineffective, people kept asking for money for donating plasma, he added.
After receiving a complaint from a girl, Sravan and his team found out about the fraudsters and circulated their numbers through social media. However, the donors began threatening the girl that they would morph her photos and post them on social media. “As the relatives are in distress, they tend to comply with requests for money,” Sravan said. Genuine donors never ask for money. It is not advisable to initiate any kind of monetary transaction with blood donors, he said.
Rachakonda police asked people to send the details of fraudsters along with their contact numbers on WhatsApp number 9490617111. Some complaints have been lodged and action is expected soon.
However, ACP of Vanasthalipuram, K Purushotham Reddy said they had not come across any such cases so far. He refused to speak further as he was busy with IPL duty. “The relatives of the patients have to report such cases with details to the police. No matter how small or big the amount demanded is, such cases should be reported,” said Chandana Deepti, DCP, North Zone.