Plans to ‘adopt’ 450 children for the same; wants young men to volunteer as donors
The NGO is seeking male donors as women donors mostly have haemoglobin issues. Representation pic
A Mumbai NGO has begun a mission to match thalassemic children with fixed blood donors, to ensure a good life and longevity for them. It aims to ‘adopt’ 450 thalassemic children from Wadia and KEM Hospital in Parel for this. Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder involving lower-than-normal amounts of haemoglobin. Those afflicted need regular blood transfusions.
‘A pilot project’
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“It is a pilot project and we aim to have fixed blood donors for each thalassemic child. These children require blood transfusion after every 15-21 days and are generally dependent on random donors,” said Vikas Vira, president, NGO Tarun Mitra Mandal, which works in the field of organ, blood donations etc.
He said that an affected child generally receives blood from different donors. As a result, these children suffer from several adverse effects. “Generally, the antibodies are not checked while giving the blood for transfusion. So post the transfusion, the person does feel a little unwell for a day or two. By having fixed donors per patient, we plan to address this issue. The donors will be allotted to the patient after the antibodies are checked. Abroad, there have been studies to show that having fixed donors improves the quality of life of the patient, increases life expectancy and increases the period between blood transfusions,” explained Vira.
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Presently 12 children of O positive and B positive blood groups have been allotted fixed donors. “Every year, 24 to 44 units of blood is required per child. There are 2,300 thalassemic children in Mumbai. We want volunteers to come forward and register themselves for the programme,” said Vira.
Why male donors
He said they are looking for young men as donors for the programme. “We will be allocating 6 to 8 donors to each thalassemic child so that every donor gets his turn after every three months. We are not looking for female donors as generally they have haemoglobin issues. We are looking for male donors in the age group 18-30 so that they can continue donating blood for a long time,” said Vira. Presently the project has enrolled thalassemic children below the age of 15. Volunteers can call on 7208201919 to register as a parent donor.
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