Every year, India celebrates National Voluntary Blood Donation Day on the 1st of October to highlight the need and importance of safe blood in the life of an individual.
The WHO estimates that blood donation by 1% of the population is generally the minimum to meet a nation most basic need for blood. Even by this low measure, as per data presented to the Lok Sabha on March 23, 2018, show, India was short of 1.9 million units of blood (or 15%) vis-a-vis the WHO norm.
In India, the concept of blood donation has always been demand-led wherein, even the most well-educated people perceive that blood donation is an emergency service which is to be done when asked or when there is a need.
Currently, most blood banks and hospitals in India are highly dependent on replacement blood donations wherein family or friends are asked to donate blood in lieu of the units given to a patient.
As a result of which they are rarely able to maintain adequate stock of different blood groups to meet the transfusion needs of all their patients, particularly in emergency situations.
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In addition, this adds constant pressure on patients to find blood donors in order to receive treatment.
In most aspects of healthcare, the availability of service should precede its need.
The same goes for blood. In a scenario where blood needs to be arranged to meet its need, there are risks of delays in surgical procedures, inadequate time to properly test the donor blood, or effectively screen potential donors.
Moreover, even some basic procedures like childbirth are accompanied by the of hemorrhage, for which an ample surplus stock of blood is necessitated.
In fact, even today, in many remote areas, pregnant women are forced to travel to distant hospitals to deliver their child because the primary healthcare centres closest to them do not have sufficient blood available.