Blood donors keep the Mumbai spirit flowing!
No hospital fell short of blood for victims of Tuesday’s blasts because conscientious Mumbaikars came out to voluntarily donate their own
It was amazing! The demand for blood in the suburban and city hospitals where the injured were admitted on Tuesday evening dropped drastically just hours after the first victims of the train blasts were admitted. This is because hundreds of conscientious Mumbaikars rushed to blood
banks to voluntarily donate blood. Another example of the spirt of Mumbai reigning supreme over a tragedy? Yes, there is no other explanation.
“On Tuesday night, we collected 50 units of blood,” said Dr. Amit Suryavanshi, the Blood Bank Officer at J.J. Hospital’s Blood Bank. These 50 units were sent to the KEM Hospital which had its hands full with the blast victims, since no casualties of the incident were admitted to J. J. “It was college students who were involved in the collection of blood. And they have been very busy since the news of the bomb blasts spread. Even yesterday, there were quite a number of donors who were pouring into the blood bank,” said Dr. Suryavanshi.
Another amazing story was narrated at the Indian Red Cross Society’s Blood Bank. “We contacted the Bhabha Hospital and KEM yesterday morning, but both the hospitals had sufficient storage of blood. They did not want any help. But still, so many donors continued to visit the blood bank,” said Dr.N. K. Naidu, the Medical Director of the Indian Red Cross Society’s Blood Bank. “On Tuesday night we distributed 39 units of blood to hospitals in the suburbs. They have not asked for more,” added Dr. Naidu.
Even at KEM Hospital the demand for blood was decreasing. “The condition of the casualties at the hospital is stable. And thanks to donors we have sufficient blood in our bank too,” said Dr. Madhu Chaturvedi of the KEM Hospital Blood Bank. “On Tuesday night we received 250 units of blood, and by Wednesday noon we received another 420 units of blood. There are still a 100 donors who have registered with us whom we can call in case we need blood,” added Dr. Chaturvedi.
At Nair Hospital, social workers have been helping in the collection of blood. “On Tuesday night itself, we had collected 100 units of blood. And since there were no casualties admitted to Nair Hospital, we sent the blood to KEM,” said Mrs. Reena Prabhu, a social worker at Nair Hospital who was overlooking the collection drive.
At Lilavati Hospital, 36 casualties of the blasts have been admitted. “We have sufficient blood since many voluntary donors came by Tuesday night itself. We then started forwarding the donors to KEM Hospital,” said a medical superintendent of the blood bank there who refused to disclose her name or the number of units collected and used by the hospital.