TOI : City to get first platelet donors club on October 1 : Sept 30, 2007
City to get first platelet donors club on October 1
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: There’s good news for all those who have desperately looked for
blood platelets for their critically ill relatives. The city will soon get a
Lifesavers’ Club for platelet donors, a network of willing donors who can be
reached easily in times of crisis.
Platelets are blood components which help in clotting and their demand
has been steadily rising with the increasing burden of infectious diseases
like dengue and leptospirosis.
Maharashtra’s State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) will take an
encouraging step forward on October 1 with the launch of its database on
platelet donors. The initiative has been coordinated by the NGO Think
Foundation and a group of KEM Hospital doctors who have formed an NGO,
Doctors For You.
To start with, 50 regular donors have committed to the noble cause, and
some will be felicitated at the staterun Cama Hospital on Monday. “October 1
is National Voluntary Blood Donation Day and we are taking the opportunity
to start something useful for our citizens,” director-general of health
services Prakash Doke said.
The awareness drive kickstarted with a Doctors For You initiative which
saw about 50 Mumbaikars donating platelets at KEM.
Platelets are retrieved through a process called apharesis and can be
donated by a person 24 times a year. “The city needs 90,000 RDPs (random
donor platelets) and 11,500 SDPs (single donor platelets) a year and the
demand goes up during the monsoon,” SBTC head Sanjay Jadhav said.
Doctors say platelet donation needs more commitment as it takes more
time than blood donation.
“Willing donors can fill the SBTC’s enrolment form online or call
65181341 or 6511343,” Vinay Shetty of Think Foundation said.
Publication:Times Of India Mumbai; Date:Sep 30, 2007; Section:Front Page;
Page Number:1