Hospitals in and around Thrissur have been experiencing a severe shortage of human blood. Also, many lives are lost due to the lack of proper blood transfusion facilities. On a rough estimate, every year, about 4000 major surgical operations are carried out and about 1000 accidents per annum are recorded in this part of the country. In addition to this, patients suffering from rare hereditary blood diseases and many forms of cancer require frequent blood transfusions. Together, Thrissur and surrounding areas require at least 30000 units of blood every year. But the hospitals and blood banks in the area have the capacity to collect only 5 to 10 thousand units per annum.
Our people have not yet fully adapted to the culture of regularly donating blood. Because of this, there is not even a single Blood Bank in its true sense in this part of the country. The medical college blood bank caters only to its own patients. Also, the blood banks attached to the private hospitals do only replacement bleeding and do not have blood ready in store. The results is that if a patient needs emergency blood transfusion, he has no donor to bleed for him, and he hardly has a chance to get the needed blood.
The modern scientific practice is component transfusion. Whole blood transfusion has already become obsolete in developed countries. But at present, there are only a couple of centers with component transfusion facility in the whole of Kerala, and Thrissur has none. It is to fill this vacuum that IMA decided to set up a Blood Bank Complex at Thrissur. The ultimate objective behind this idea can be summarized as follows,
“The needy should receive the needed blood at the needed hour”.
For more info. contact us at:
IMA Blood Bank Complex & Research Centre
(A Joint Venture with the District Panchayath & IMA Thrissur)
