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Islampur, June 12: The district hospital in Raiganj and the subdivisional hospital in Islampur have almost run out of blood — a direct fallout of the panchayat elections.
Enquiries revealed yesterday that the blood bank at Raiganj hospital had four units and the Islampur subdivisional hospital just three units.
Pradip Mondal, a medical officer with the Raiganj hospital blood bank, said: “On average, we need about 40 units of blood daily. Political parties had been organising blood donation camps before the announcement of the panchayat polls but now they have stopped doing it. The worst affected are those needing immediate surgery and thalassaemia patients,” he said.
At the Islampur subdivisional hospital, its superintendent Jyoti Biswas said that he had appealed to the local Red Cross and the Lions Club to organise blood donation camps.
“We turn to the district hospital whenever there is a crisis and there, too, the shortage is acute. We have appealed to voluntary organisations such as the Red Cross and the Lions Club to help us out,” Biswas said.
Political parties generally organise blood donation camps in localities.
In several places colleges also organise such camps.
But now most political activists are busy with campaign work and most colleges are shut.
The blood banks in the district hospitals generally try to keep a stock of 45 units.
The stock was dwindling over the last month, which prompted the district magistrate to wonder today why the hospitals waited this long to press the SOS button.
Arabinda Tantri, the superintendent of the district hospital in Raiganj, said the authorities had informed the district magistrate about the blood shortage.
“We are being forced to postpone surgical procedures because of blood shortage. We have informed the district magistrate about the matter,” Tantri said.
North Dinajpur district magistrate P.N. Bhutia, said: “The non-government organisations will have to come forward and organise blood donation camps immediately. However, I have asked the hospitals why such a crisis was allowed to take place.”
The Red Cross has agreed to try and tackle the scarcity of blood.
“We are going to hold blood donation camps as soon as we can. The relatives of the patients requiring blood transfusion also need to participate in the camps. Unfortunately, there is still lack of awareness among the public as far as blood donation is concerned and if that ends, the crisis can also be tackled,” said Bandhan Das, the secretary of the Islampur Red Cross Society.
