SPECIALLet Bangladeshi youth's blood 'flow'

There's no dearth of healthy blood for the needy in hospitals, it's the lack of information that's playing the killer.

Nurul Islam Hasib

bdnews24.com senior correspondent

Dhaka, June 14 (bdnews24.com) – When Zakaria Hossain was desperately looking for a bag (unit) of blood for his sister-in-law, brought to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital bleeding profusely after a complicated delivery, he did not know even his own blood group.

Doctors told the man in his 30s that he could give blood if his blood group matches. "Can I…really?"' was his instant reaction.

But, thank god, his blood group matched, unexpectedly, with that of the patient and he donated the required 'AB positive' blood.

Those working with voluntary blood donation organisations say it's a common picture in Bangladesh where voluntary blood donation has failed to gain the desired momentum.

"Why he (Zakaria) should donate blood, he himself does not know," Dr Moniruzzaman, coordinator, voluntary blood donation programme Quantum Foundation, said.

Citing estimates, he told bdnews24.com that only 25 percent of the annual 500,000 units of blood demand were met by voluntary, non-commercial blood donations in Bangladesh.

A major portion – 50 to 55 percent – of the blood demand is met with donors like Zakaria, who donate just once, finding no other option.

To one's shock and surprise, still around 20 to 25 percent of the required blood comes from paid donors that can prove a life-taking rather than a life-saving option.

"You will see no concerted motivational drive at this moment. Those (organisations) who work with blood only do scattered campaign," Moniruzzaman said, though that 'strong and relentless' motivation targeting youths could make all the difference.

Anirban Haque, an assistant IT manager of GMG Airlines, was one of the few who got motivated and inspired in his youth.

Thirty-seven-year-old Haque has so far donated 39 times, according to the register of the Quantum Foundation.

"I was motivated by a true story," he told bdnews24.com on Monday on the eve of the World Blood Donor Day on Tuesday.

It was a story of two thalassemic sisters, of which the elder (11-year-old) scarified for younger one (three-year-old) on an Eid day in 1995 or 1996. Haque couldn't recall the exact year.

"They needed regular blood transfusion to keep them alive. One day, both of them with same blood group needed blood. But their parents could not manage..."

By the time they arranged a bagful, it was dawn (on the Eid day). The elder one insisted her parents to transfuse the precious blood to her younger one. "I am elder. I am fine at this moment, she told her parents," Haque recalled the story. And the ill-fated elder sister died.

"It was a story that jolted me when I heard from one of my relatives...and I started donating blood," he said.

Dr Moniruzzaman said a massive drive was needed to spread the message of voluntary blood donation targeting the youth, most of who are yet to know the scarcity and importance of blood, when needed. "Once you motivate them, they would continue donating blood for the rest of their life."

A person above 18 and below 60 can donate blood quarterly, though there are some medical conditions that can bar a donor from donating blood. "We exclude those conditions by asking questions and filling up a form."

"We make 2,000 to 2,500 calls each day to collect 100 units of blood," he said, adding that there should be a national programme to increase voluntary blood donors' number.

"The figure should be 100 percent."

Voluntary blood donation in Bangladesh started in 1978, in the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where 27 people including students, doctors and staff, donated blood in a Sandhani camp.

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