Opening a vein - The Hindu
In a country of a billion, only a few hundred people have the Bombay blood group. Here is how they band together in times of need
Emergency Wing
Speacial WBDD celebration with Bombay Blood Group Donors
We at Sankalp India Foundation get numerous blood requests. We are uniquely positioned in a sense that we tend to get the more difficult to manage blood requests - rare blood groups, difficult situations, timings, lesser known components etc. Over the years as the number of requests has increased, the good news is that we find it easier to handle the most difficult of situations.
Emergency Team Annual Report 2013-14
Emergency wing was the first team of SIF which started with the pledge to do whatever it takes to ensure no one suffers due to shortage of blood. Today the team takes up blood requests which are difficult to be handled by the existing blood stocks in blood banks or by simply getting a few donation done. The team takes up blood requests for extremely rare blood group, when there is a requirement of unusual blood products, when there is a danger to the life of the person because of lack of availability of blood and other corner cases of blood banking.
From helplessness to making a difference
It was early January 2014 when Bangalore was undergoing severe shortage of blood. Even the most common groups like A+ and B+ were out of stock. The reason being the holiday season, when most of the colleges were off and companies were having fewer drives.
Emergency Team - the roads taken
Sankalp started 10 years back with the intent to help people who are facing difficulty arranging for blood in emergencies. That responsibility now rests with the emergency team of the organisation. In those days the challenge was to organise for blood for the patients who were sent out of the blood banks to look for donors. Replacement requests, negative group requests and seasonal shortages kept us busy. Those were the days when an AB-ve request was considered a challenge. Then came the era of single donor platelets.
Importance of confirming Blood Group
Sankalp helpline gets a minimum of 3 to 4 Bombay blood group requests every month from all parts of the country. With such flowing requests and very few eligible donors available it has become very much a necessity to request donors to donate every three months and motivate more Bombay blood group donors who are not aware about the scarcity and need of this unit.
Our Expereince With Bombay Blood Group at ISTM Annual Conference Bangalore
Bangalore was happy to host the second annual conference of Indian Society for Transfusion Medicine from September 13-15 2013. The conference brought together the experts in the field of transfusion medicine from across the nation. It was a great opportunity to learn and share. The conference was packed with engaging scientific talks, paper presentations and debates. The program was very well received by the participants and ended up as a grand success.
The 3rd Bombay Blood Group Meet
Bombaybloodgroup.org has been bustling with activity in the last few months. It is the platform for the vibrant Bombay blood group community of our nation. Through rational use of blood, technology, networking and most importantly, timely and judicious blood donations, the community has been actively managing the numerous blood requests which it is getting from all over the globe.
Herculean Task: Bringing 4 Bombay Negative Donors Together
Usually whenever Sankalp receives blood requests on the helpline, the request gets fulfilled within a week unless operation is scheduled for a later date. But in this one request, the heart surgery of a 9 year old girl was postponed 3 times in 6 months due to various reasons.
News and Updates from April 2013
Blood Donation Drives outside Bangalore
Blood Donation Drive at Lingarajappa College Of Engineering, Bidar.
Blood from Bangalore Helps Save A Life in Instanbul-Turkey
23rd February 2013: Sankalp India Foundation, organised for 3 units of Bombay phenotype for a critical patient receiving treatment at Istanbul University, Turkey.
On 20th February 2013, Sankalp India Foundation received a blood request from the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Istanbul University, Turkey. The hospital identified the patient's blood group as Bombay blood group and for the past 7 days they had been looking for blood donors across Turkey without any success.
Rampant demand for replacement undermining voluntary blood donation movement
Replacement for blood is just refusing to go away.. and now it has started affecting voluntary blood donation as well!
A person got his father admitted in a reputed hospital for a cardiac surgery. He was told that 5 blood donors were required to be brought in before the surgery. When he went back to his office he realised that most of his friends had donated blood a week back since the company had organised a large blood donation drive where 400 units were collected across all offices.