Lets Give Life A Better Chance Volume 2 Issue 10 October 2012 16 Pages Re 1 Can we make Dedicated portal Read the views of blood donations for Bombay Blood the great leader much safer by Group launched on L a l B a h a d u r preventing the 2 n d O c t o b e r Shastri on some usual vasovagal 2012.Information, topics of national reaction? Read e d u c a t i o n a n d interest on Pages more on Page 7 networking.Page 5 12 -13 Blood Revolution Calling @ Gulbarga! For many reasons, the district of Gulbarga has a claimed that from February to June they could not get very poor performance when it comes to voluntary any voluntary blood donation drives. They had close to 30 units in the beginning of the summer and managed blood donation. On a deep down analysis made by with that for 4 months (by asking patient families for Sankalp’s Rakta Kranti it was realized that not replacement). On further investigation, people in the only are awareness levels lower than any other part blood banking community claimed that this was true of the state, but also the very attitude of people who every year during summer. They say that extreme temperatures there and the lack of motivation has can make a difference is slowly but surely sounding dented the spirit of voluntary blood donation. the death knell for voluntary blood donation here. !Government based medical institutions are closed There was a need to strike the right chords here. An beyond 4PM and are not open on Sundays and other attempt was made. As a consequence, Sankalp government and public holidays. Consequently they decided to hold the next of its workshop under “Role are available for blood donation drives in a very limited time frame. Of Colleges In Taking Karnataka Towards 100% !A small registration drive to register donors for VBD” @ Gulbarga. emergency was conducted at a major engineering college in the district. Only 10 donors registered. Many BLOOD DONATION SITUATION IN GULBARGA of them were skeptical that their parents and guardians would be disappointed and angry if the were to donate After Sankalp’s initial visit to Gulbarga it was clear that blood! the concept of voluntary blood donation is close to non existent in the district. Some very disturbing a s p e c t s c a m e f o r t h a f t e r interacting with blood bankers, h o s p i t a l s , patients, college students etc. Here is a gist of what is really happening there. !A major hospital based blood bank in the district Jai Jawan Jai Kisan - Lal Bahadur Shastri Sankalp Patrika Volume 2 Issue 10 Page 2 October 2012 EMERGENCY BLOOD DONATIONS IN THE GULBARGA DISTRICT Sankalp India Foundation decided that an attempt has Data gathered from the Karnataka blood helpline, ( to be made to tackle the situation. On 8th September 9480044444) for Gulbarga indicates that in January 2012, Sankalp India Foundation in association with 2012, the district had about 100 units of blood (units NSS Cell, Gulbarga University held a workshop on the available off the shelf) on a daily average. This dropped Role Of Colleges in Taking Karnataka towards 100% to about 50 in February and never really crossed 60 Voluntary Blood Donation and in particular addressing from then till July 2012. Thus replacement was the the pressing needs for more blood donation drives in norm and the misery of the patients during that period Gulbarga.. was painful to hear. A set of 50 colleges from Gulbarga and neighboring Even for an organization like Sankalp, that is working in Yadgir district were identified to be a part of the the field of blood banking for close to 10 years, workshop. A letters signed jointly by Sankalp and NSS emergency situations in Gulbarga have been a Cell Gulbarga was dispatched to these colleges. All nightmare. Although Sankalp never wants to see a colleges were personally again invited via phone calls, case where a unit of blood needs to be replaced (rather mailers etc with a request to send in 1 teacher the wish is to see plenty of blood donation drives representative and 4 students from each college. making blood units available off the shelf always), there are situations when helplessness sets in and a The workshop began at 9 AM with registrations. Each replacement donor needs to be found. During such times, healthy relatives of patients too are skeptical about donating blood. They just become ignorant to repeated requests to donate blood and rather go on to put volunteers under pressure to get a blood unit. Somehow the concept of blood donation in general is too new and elusive to many people in Gulbarga. Sometimes even a single negative unit cannot be found anywhere in the entire district. In April 2012, in a case where Sankalp was involved, a negative unit (Ab - ve) was required. After exploring and exhausting all options in Gulbarga it was decided to get blood from Raichur (that is about 4 hours by bus). Unfortunately, by then the life was lost. But then we also need to realize that there are people there who can make a difference as well. Take for instance the case of a man who has the unique participant was issued a well designed kit. Each kit had Bombay Blood Group. There was a patient in manuals, brochures, pamphlets, posters, a copy of Bangalore who required Bombay group blood. After Sankalp Patrika, each of which had an abundance of explaining the urgency of the situation, he was willing information related to blood donation processes, the to donate immediately and even help in transporting it need for blood, eligibility criteria etc. More than 120 from Gulbarga to Bangalore. This simply goes to show students and about 20 faculty members came in to that there is hope! attend the day long program. Sankalp India Foundation is working to tap this hope to After the national song, Vande Mataram was sung by improve things in Gulbarga. There is a need for a participants, Dr E T Muttiah, the Vice Chancellor of the revolutionary change. With the district having a university inaugurated the program and stressed on university of it’s own (Gulbarga University )which has the need for awareness of the requirement of blood in about 100 colleges in Gulbarga and Yadgir , with more the mind of every student and public in general. Other than 5 major engineering, medical colleges availability dignitaries from the Syndicate of the university also of potential donors is not a problem. Education and gave their vocal support to such a program and encouragement is lacking in these youngsters and the thanked everyone involved in trying to enlighten willingness to take the first step is lacking from students. concerned authorities of these institutions. Lalith Parmar, President, Sankalp India Foundation WORKSHOP ON THE ROLE OF COLLEGES IN then laid out Sankalp’s plan of action for blood donation drives in Gulbarga. Digging deep into the details of the Loyalty to the country comes ahead of all other loyalties. And this is an absolute loyalty, since one cannot weight it in terms of what one receives. - Lal Bahadur Shastri Sankalp Patrika Volume 2 Issue 10 Page 3 October 2012 become a part of the annual curriculum and event plan of the colleges. Sankalp sent out an appeal to the college faculty representatives to not look at such drives as a burden on their academic schedule, but rather consider it to be their responsibility as definite steps and decisions from them can play a major role in addressing blood shortage in Gulbarga. Dr Prasanna, Blood Bank Medical Officer of District Hospital, Raichur also came in to represent the blood banking community. He not only explained how important blood donation drives are in Gulbarga Raichur region(since these are major medial destinations to a host of villages and towns), but also went on to tell the students how shortage of blood units can be disastrous to the lives of thousands of people. He willingly Rakta Kranti program that is getting in lot more answered the plenty of questions that were voluntary blood donation drives across the state, he put forward by the students and suggested them to made students aware as to how they can make a take the bold step of convincing their college significant contribution in their region. He gave authorities to organize frequent blood donation drives. examples of other districts where students are driving in a change in their colleges. Comparing these Finally, a certificate of appreciation was handed over to students with them, he expressed hope that 1 year every participant. This certificate shall serve as an later the situation will be much better in Gulbarga. additional motivational factor for the students to work for the cause of voluntary blood donation. Following this, a senior Sankalp volunteer gave an action plan for all colleges to plan and execute blood Only sustained efforts by colleges, Sankalp and blood donation drives. The plan consisted of the following banks can improve situations in Gulbarga. A Blood steps Revolution is calling there, and a spark to has been ignited to start the revolution. !Creating a Team Red in the college (that shall be sufficiently trained by Sankalp. All publicity and IEC materials to be given by Sankalp) !This TeamRed to visit every class in the college, motivate students !Register blood donors and create a database of donors that can be used for blood donation drives and emergency situations Conduct a blood donation drive (that shall again be completely supported by Sankalp’s presence) Apart from these aspects, eligibility aspects for blood donation, the right processes for pre, post and during donation care were all explained in detail to the enthusiastic students.