The Calcutta Municipal Corporation will draw up a list of those willing to donate blood to help tackle the acute shortage blood banks have been facing following the Covid-19 outbreak, civic officials said on Sunday.

Blood banks primarily source blood from donation camps, which cannot be organised in the lockdown.

Clubs, NGOs and other social outfits will be approached for donors. The civic body will arrange for the transportation of donors to and from blood banks.

Senior officials of the corporation have already held preliminary talks with a few state-run blood banks and the blood collection is expected to take off next week.

“The aim is to address the shortage of blood,” deputy mayor Atin Ghosh told Metro. “We have spoken to a few blood banks. We will also reach out on social networking platforms and hopefully by next week, the process will begin.”

Some of the major blood banks across Calcutta require around 90 to 100 units of blood every day and this March. Blood banks usually face a crisis in summer, when the number of donation camps drops.

But this year banks are already running dry because of a clampdown on mass gatherings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The health department issued a circular allowing only 30 donors at a donation camp with five allowed to donate at a time. The donors would have to maintain social distancing. But few donors turned up.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee then asked the corporation to take immediate steps to replenish the stock of blood banks, sources said.

“The requirement for blood is less because the patient inflow at medical colleges has come down,' said Malay Ghosh, the director of the blood bank at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. 'But even then we will require blood as the stocks are at their lowest. We have already had a round of discussion with corporation officials.”

Several blood banks welcomed the civic body's move. “Apart from patients of thalassaemia, who need regular blood transfusion, there are emergency cases as well and blood bank must be well-stocked at all times,” said Pratik Dey, the head of the blood bank at the SSKM Hospital.