Kathmandu, July 28

Nepal Red Cross Society today said it collected 236,799 pints of blood through blood donation camps organised in 105 places of 72 districts in the fiscal 2016-17.

A report made public by NRCS on the occasion of 51st anniversary of the launch of blood transfusion service in Nepal stated that it distributed blood and blood components to 337,321 patients. The four main blood components include plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. According to NRCS, as many as 3,753 mobile camps were organised to collect blood from volunteers.

The country has Kathmandu-based Central Blood Transfusion Service and four regional level blood centres in Biratnagar, Pokhara, Nepalgunj and Chitwan. There are also 23 district-level blood banks, 42 emergency units and 36 hospital units of the services across the country.

NRCS Chairperson Sanjeev Thapa thanked all volunteers and organisations for their support.

Director of National Public Health Laboratory Dr Raj Kumar Mahato suggested to NRCS to encourage more women volunteers to donate blood. Women account for only 15 per cent of blood donors.

NRCS Secretary General Dev Ratna Dhakhwa stressed the need for increased government support for quality control, and technology and financial management of blood transfusion service to prevent commercialisation of blood.

Director of Central Blood Transfusion Service Dr Manita Rajkarninar presented an annual report of 206-17. According to the report, 96.90 and 3.10 per cent of donors are positive and negative groups respectively. Similarly, 0.04 per cent of donors were tested positive for HIV, 0.22 per cent for hepatitis B, 0.17 per cent hepatitis C and 0.35 per cent syphilis during blood screening before transfusion.

According to World Health Organisation, voluntary blood donation rates are not usually high in the South Asian region, but Nepal is a notable exception. In fact, the nation has more than 500 blood donor groups. It estimates that blood donation by 1 per cent of the population can meet a nation’s most basic requirements for blood.