Blood banks in Mumbai stare at severe shortage

MUMBAI: The city has been reeling under a shortage of blood since the past few weeks, prompting the State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) to ask religious institutions, non-profits, corporates, government offices and housing societies to organize camps. Activists said the scarcity of blood units, which begins post-Diwali and continues till the end of November, has become an annual affair.
“The holidays lead to the crisis every year and planning can help us tackle it better,” said Vinay Shetty of Think Foundation.
Arun Thorat of SBTC said while stocks had depleted because of holidays in colleges, the city has enough blood and buffer stocks for 4-5 days. “We currently have around 4,500 units in all banks put together, whereas Mumbai’s daily requirement is around 800-900 units. During regular months, we have a collective stock of between 7,000-10,000 units,” he said. Thosrat added besides religious institutions that helped by conducting camps, MSEB, too, conducted camps and helped them collect around 6,000 units.