SRIKAKULAM: At a time when the district is witnessing an increased number of viral fevers, the treatment of which needs transfusion of platelets to patients, the ‘No Stock’ boards at blood banks are creating panic in the district.
The platelets are out of stock in the RIMS Medical College as well as Red Cross Blood Bank.
On the whole, not more than 60 units of platelets are being generated from all the three blood banks in the district, while there is a demand for over 100 units on any given day.
Unwilling to take the risk of waiting, most of the patients in need of platelet transfusion are being referred to hospitals in Visakhapatnam.
It takes eight hours to generate platelets after drawing blood from a donor.
The blood bank officials start screening only after collecting about 15 units of blood.
During the process, patients are made to wait for at least 10 hours even for a single unit of platelets.
The parents of 10-year-old Deepika, whose platelet count dropped due to fever for the past two weeks, rushed her to Visakhapatnam on Monday night on the advice of a private hospital near Rama Laxmana Junction in Srikakulam town.
“As the platelets separation machine is partially damaged, we are able to generate only a few units of platelets against its actual capacity of 25 units a day,” said Dr. Giri, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) blood bank medical officer. He said that the machine in the RIMS was procured almost 10 years ago.
He said though they had reported to the officials concerned about the bad condition of the machine, no action was taken yet.
“Keeping the demand in view, we had generated about 25 units on Monday by working all through the night and more than half of the units had been transfused to patients by Tuesday afternoon. Till the machine is restored, we cannot meet the demand from RIMS,” he added.
A RIMS official said that most of the fever cases with dropping platelet count are being referred to Visakhapatnam.
At the Red Cross Blood Bank too, a ‘No Stock’ board has been put up. Most of the people depend more on the Red Cross Blood Bank for platelets than on the RIMS and other private blood banks. “With no alternative, we are desperately asking people to donate adequate units of blood so that we can separate enough platelets,” said Jagan Mohana Rao, chairman of Indian Red Cross Society Blood Bank.
Over 50 people approach the blood bank daily seeking platelets while the production is not more than 25 units a day, he added. To produce platelets to meet the demand, blood donation camps are being organised very frequently, he added. By 12 noon of Tuesday, no stock of platelets was announced in the Red Cross Blood Bank while 13 units were available in the RIMS blood bank.