News and Updates for December 2014
Rakta Kranti
December was a busy month in anticipation of the winter shortage. In all 12 blood donation drives were organized in December collecting 1223 units or blood. Let’s have a look at each camp.
Comfortable with replacement - who needs voluntary blood donation?
Despite being an institution of repute and a medical hub in the southern part of Bangalore city, their views towards voluntary blood donation are unfortunate.
Sundays - the days of hopes
It was around July last year when we decided to put laziness behind and initiate the Sunday get-together for Thalassemia. There was a situation where several parents wanted to meet us and have discussions about various issues faced by their children.
Challenges with Voluntary Platelet Apheresis
When Sankalp got it's first request for platelet apheresis, little was known and understood about the procedure. We got the volunteers to donate platelets first and then gradually made progress towards educating the regular blood donors as well as building the country's first voluntary platelet database.
Request for Thalassemia Screening
An estimated 4% individuals in Karnataka is a carrier of thalassemia. Thalassemia carriers have no symptoms and they lead a normal life. Most people realise that they are carriers of thalassemia only when they child is diagnosed with the disorder. By the it is already too late.
News and Updates - November 2014
Rakta Kranti
In the month of November 2014 Sankalp India Foundation organised 11 blood donation camps where 976 individuals came forward to donate blood and 775 units of blood were collected. The month of November traditionally has several large blood donation camps in the city.
Fail Story: How a seemingly successful public awareness program failed to achieve it’s goal
Fail Story is a new section in Sankalp Patrika. We often share stories of success with you. We thought that it may be interesting or rather important to share with you the stories of failure that we face. We hope that one of you will find a better solution to the problems we faced.
Replacement Donor Card - A Certificate of Shame
NACO claims 80% voluntary blood donation already and aims at achieving 85% in 2014-15. Unfortunately, right under the government's nose, at an institution which government wants the nation to look up-to and learn from - the message of voluntary blood donations seems to have no takers.
Expanding the Bombay blood group network
Sankalp India Foundation has an Emergency Team which works to ensure that people who do not find blood from the blood banks are helped. The team works on corner cases of blood transfusion medicine and extremely rare blood group requests. The team has been handling BBG requests for last 6 years.
Bhopal Gas Tragedy - Whose Problem is it Now?
Although several stories questioning if justice had been done to the victims of the worst industrial disaster in Bhopal on 3rd Dec 1984 keep coming up, it is unclear if people reporting these understand the real problems. Perhaps there is no accurate numbers on the magnitude of damage. Different sources quote different figures.