CHITWAN: With the rising number of patients following increasing heat and declining number of blood donors, the district has been facing insufficiency of blood.

The district has been facing a demand of more than 100 units of blood every day given the daily usage of the blood in BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, Bharatpur Hospital, two medical colleges along with two dozens private hospitals, according to Ramesh Kanta Poudel, Chief at Kshetriya Rakta Sanchar Kendra, Bharatpur.

Those who need blood the most are cancer patients, patients who need to undergo surgeries, accident victims, pregnant women, blood deficient patients, and dengue patients.

Around 300 organisations in the district, including Youth for Blood and other volunteering associations, have been donating blood by making calendars. Despite holding a donation programme continuously for five months, the amount of blood collected has fallen short of the regular demand, informed Poudel.

The shortage in supply of blood in health facilities could also be attributed to absence of college students due to holidays and exams, as they form the larger group involved in blood donation.

“We have been collecting blood by running blood donation programmes by coordinating in other districts such as Nawalparasi, Gorkha, Lamjung, Tanahu, Makawanpur, Bara, Parsa and Rautahat," he said. He further added that the number of donors tend to reduce by half in the summer season, when the number of patients are high, creating shortage of blood during this season.