Currently, around 150 blood banks in Mumbai accumulate blood throughout the year by organising blood donation camps across the city at regular intervals, as the yearly requirement for blood in various hospitals and private clinics in Mumbai itself is estimated to be around 2,50,000 bottles (about 8,75,000 litres).
Dr Abhijit Bopardikar, pathologist, Mahatma Gandhi Seva Mandir blood bank said, “On May 8, 2008, we initiated a Thalassemia foundation which has pledged to adopt 40 Thalassemic major children belonging to the deprived sections of society. We would provide them blood at no cost throughout their life as Thalassemic patients gener ally require regular and repeated blood transfusions, as frequent as twice a month.””We plan to increase the number of Thalassemic adoptions in future and also extend our free services to Leukemia patients and to people with various haematological disorders warranting frequent and consistent blood transfusions to survive,” he added.