Thalassaemia Patients in Mumbai Impacted by Shortage of Blood Units

With Mumbai facing an acute scarcity of blood, patients with thalassaemia are bearing the brunt of the situation.

It is learnt that some private blood banks are also charging a fee in return for units of blood to patients suffering from thalassaemia. Government rules make it clear that blood should be provided for free to patients of thalassaemia in private and government-run blood banks. 

Dr Arun Thorat who is the in-charge at the State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) said that the group is in the midst of implementing a system that will allocate a specific quota of blood for thalassaemia patients on a monthly basis. 

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“This will ensure that the load on some blood banks, like Sion, KEM and JJ, is reduced and private banks also chip in to help thalassaemia patients,” he added.

Meanwhile, the SBTC has mentioned that private blood banks charging thalassaemia patients for blood units will face action with Dr Thorat saying that they will look further into the matter.

On the other hand, the scarcity of blood at government blood banks such as JJ, Sion, and KEM hospitals has led to people being asked to find replacement donors. “It is not possible to find someone to donate blood every 15 days,” a parent of a 10-year-old thalassaemia patient said.

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Though blood donation drives were down due to coronavirus concerns, officials said that donations saw a surge in December 2020 and January this year. However, with the latest COVID-19 surge in February, donations dipped by 39 per cent over a two month period.  

The Public Health Department has asked the State Health Minister Rajesh Tope to use his resources and encourage eligible citizens to donate blood. 

In-charge of the JJ Blood Bank, Dr Hitesh Pagare said, “There is shortage and we are dependent on trusts and NGOs to hold donation camps. Our monthly collection has gone down from 2,000 units to 1,000 to 1,500, but demand remains 2,000 per month.” 

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