Blood shortage is a chronic problem in India. It exists everywhere, right from the most interior parts of the country to big metros. Lack of blood, plasma or platelets often becomes the cause for maternal mortality and deaths in accident cases.
However, point to be noted is the fact that rather than shortage of donors, it is the shortage of facilities which is aiding this crunch.
In recent times, voluntary blood
It is shocking to note that, Arunachal has only 13 blood banks in various district headquarters and even out of this paltry number— only few are functioning properly.
Much stress is laid on voluntary blood donation, however, equal if not more focus must be on making blood banks more efficient. Given the present state, blood banks are in no position to handle large units of blood which consequently will lead to spoilage.
Arunachal Pradesh in a truly commendable feat, bagged the rare honour for its constant and 100 per cent contribution towards voluntarily blood donation (5000 units of blood every year) for last three years by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India on World Blood Donor Day on June 14, 2016. The achievement is inspirational given the fact that in 2012 the percentage of voluntarily blood donation was zero.
The turnaround also assumes huge significance given the limitation of blood banks and related technology in the state.
Blood is a two-edged sword; on one hand it is a life saver but at the same time contaminated blood can spell doom for the receiver and literally jeopardise lives. Therefore, as there is need to raise awareness about voluntary blood donation
Through this editorial, we would like to salute the Arunachal Yuva Shakti led by its chairman Ramesh Jeke and his volunteer donors who are rendering humanitarian service to society. Their intentional way of sending donors of a different community to donate blood to a member of another tribe and vice versa aimed at generating communal harmony is worth every bit of appreciation.
Arunachal has been consistently divided along narrow parochial lines and sense of ‘togetherness’ is diminishing by the day; albeit small this gesture has huge significance and will have far reaching implications.