Kolkata: Hospitals have started counselling patients’ families to donate blood when the patient gets it from the hospital.They have also started planning blood donation camps on their own with help from voluntary organisations. Even as blood stocks have started depleting across hospitals in the wake of restrictions imposed on 11 blood banks across the state, the latter are staring at an acute crisis. They have resorted to emergency measures to conserve blood.Ruby General Hospital is among several establishments that have started urging patients’ family members to donate blood when their patients receive a transfusion. “We have also urged our employees to donate blood, apart from organising additional donation camps. We have two camps lined up on Sunday and four over the next weekend,” said Ruby chief manager – operations, Subhashis Datta.Peerless Hospital has stopped providing blood to other hospitals. “We are stepping up the effort to hold more camps,” said Peerless Hospital CEO, Sudipta Mitra.RN Tagore Hospital has started urging surgeons to counsel patients’ families to donate blood. “There is no shortage as of now but we are taking measures,” said R Venkatesh, Group COO – Narayana Health. A south Kolkata hospital has lined up an emergency meeting next week to discuss the blood crisis. “We are considering making it mandatory for patients’ families to donate one unit if the patient undergoes a transfusion,” said a hospital representative. HCG Cancer Hospitals ‘is closely monitoring requirements and ensuring that patients admitted get transfusions as clinically needed’. “We are also requesting relatives of patients requiring transfusion to donate blood,” said Dr Rupali Basu, regional business head, HCG Cancer Hospitals.ILS Hospitals has started asking families to arrange donors for replacement donation after transfusion.“Replacement is necessary since some groups have limited supply in any case,” said Tidipto Chakraborty, unit head of ILS Hospital, Howrah.Hospital administrators noted that while emergency services, major surgeries, and critical treatments are currently being managed through close inventory monitoring, a severe shortage could materialize within 1 to 2 weeks if alternative arrangements or donation drives are not intensified.
