Ahmedgarh locals seek blood bank

Known for their passion to serve humanity by donating blood, residents of the region have urged higher authorities in the Health Department to establish a blood bank and a transfusion unit at the government primary health centre (PHC) here.

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An appeal was made during a meeting of office-bearers and activists of various organisations, who were making preparations for a voluntary blood donation camp that is scheduled to take place at the grain market on March 9.

Residents alleged that patients admitted at government or private hospitals had to run to other cities and towns during emergencies as no healthcare centres in the region were authorised to store blood or transfuse it from voluntary donors to patients.

Sources at the local PHC revealed that a blood storage facility was started at the centre a long time ago, but it was not operational due to the lack of operating staff.

Municipal Council president Vikas Krishan Sharma said legislator Jaswant Singh Gajjan had already taken up the issue with the higher authorities and a blood bank would be established at one of the healthcare centres in the region soon.

Activists, led by Rotary Club assistant governor Surinder Pal Sofat, regretted that successive governments had failed to fulfill their long-pending demand for establishing a blood bank at the only healthcare centre. However, residents of the region are passionate about donating the vital fluid during blood donation camps that are organised from time to time.

“Though the region donates over 4,000 units of blood in pools collected by blood banks of the Red Cross and various hospitals at Ludhiana and Malerkotla, patients have to run from one blood bank to another in case of emergency,” said Sofat.

A patron of the Social Welfare Organisation, Tarsem Garg, acknowledged that over 1,500 units of blood are collected by various blood banks every year during the organisation’s annual voluntary blood donation camp. “While we have been organising camps for the collection of blood by banks of other towns for 17 years, our demand to set up a blood bank at a local government or private hospital bore no fruit,” said Garg, adding that there were still other NGOs that organised blood donation camps in routine.