Sunsari, July 21

Following acute blood crunch over the past two weeks in Sunsari, blood banks in the district under District Red Cross Society have urged different organisations to conduct blood donation programmes.

Sunsari ranks fourth on the list of highest blood collecting districts, after Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Chitwan.

Due to lack of blood donation programmes, the district is now facing acute blood crunch that has forced the blood banks to make request to organisations for conducting blood donation camps.

The demand of blood is highest at Dharan-based BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences as most medical cases are referred to the health centre in the east. BPKIHS’s blood bank in-charge Subash Chandra Singh said the hospital required 60 to 70 units of blood on a daily basis.

Singh said blood was in short supply in the region due to civic polls and the rainy season.

“We have been facing the shortage of blood for two whole weeks now. We used to have blood crunch in previous years too but the situation would not remain more than two days”, Singh added.

Responding to the call, the Lions Club of Dharan conducted a blood donation programme on Thursday. A total of 56 units of blood were collected from the programme, according to Dipendra Niraula of the club.

District Red Cross Society Sunsari chair Umesh Thapa said as much as 13,000 units of blood are collected in the district in a year.

Thapa said they would seek help from the Blood Donation Committee formed by BPKIHS students to meet the immediate need and would coordinate with various organisations to address the existing blood scarcity.