- Thursday, May 02, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Shubham Ghosh
THE Covid-19 pandemic has given birth to a major challenge in India and it is about donating blood. Demand for blood has soared in these times and because of lesser number of donors, senior citizens have come forward more frequently to give blood in times of emergencies over the past few months. India is the second-worst affected country in the world with more than 29 million getting hit by the coronavirus and it has the third-highest death toll of more than 385,000.
The Khaleej Times on Friday (18) reported about Bhoopendranath, a businessman above 60 who has been donating flood along with his wife Sujatha every fortnight in the South Indian city of Bangalore. He said due to the pandemic, the blood banks were seeing less number of donors since no one was ready to step out and volunteer.
He said he donated blood to meet emergency situations even before completing 15 days after his previous donation. The veteran has donated 35 single donor platelets since last year and completed his 200th blood donation recently.
Chandrakanth Acharya, another man from Bangalore and in his mid-50s, has also completed more than 200 blood donations. He started donating blood when he was 20 and even donated to a five-year-old female cancer patient who had needed emergency surgery. He met the girl after four years and she was healthy. When she thanked Acharya, his wife was in tears. He said his family celebrates any occasion by donating blood.
