City

Now, blood donor is just a click away

The search for the right blood donor has become easier here with the inclusion of Pune in the coverage area of a web-based venture

Siddharth Gadkari

Posted On Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 10:34:50 PM

It is always difficult to find a blood donor. The difficulty is even more when the task is to find a donor of a rare group. Five IT professionals have included Pune in their web-based service for searching blood donors.

The website www.friends2support.com, which was initially launched in 2004 in Hyderabad for helping IT professionals in need, will ease the donor-hunt. Just by a few clicks on the net, one can search for a blood donor of a particular blood group and then contact the donor.

Apart from making the search for blood donors easier and convenient, the youth behind this noble venture wants to promote awareness among the youth on the need to donate blood, a rare commodity.

Dhiraj Jain, one of the volunteers in Pune for www.friends2support.com said, “The web site is getting a good response. Those who are willing to donate blood can fill in the form with information like area, blood group, contact address, etc.

This information is loaded onto the website. Whoever visits this site can easily search as per their requirement. This is a unique and first-of-its web service in Pune. This type of data is very useful for those in need of blood.”

Jain was authorised to speak to Pune Mirror on behalf of the people behind the venture. “I have received a number of calls from several blood banks in Mumbai as well as Pune.

In summer, there is shortage of blood as people are not willing to donate blood. Therefore, people are approaching us for blood,” he added.

Dr Dilip Wani, a member of the State Blood Transfusion Bank, however, said there is no shortage of blood in Pune. “Pune city and district needs 1.25 lakh unit every day (one unit = 350 milimeter).

Due to growth in medical tourism in city, the blood requirement in Pune has increased. But, there is no such blood shortage in city. In the city, there are 22 blood banks. They are providing sufficient blood to city.

This (web-based service) is a good initiative and it gives support to needy people in the city,” Dr wani said.

The web service has for its goal inspiring people to donate blood, other than providing formation about blood donors and giving support to blood seekers. In short, www.friends2support.com has been started with a vision.

Blood Report
Every year India requires about four crore units of blood. Only a meager 40 lakh units of blood is available

There is no substitute for human blood

Every two seconds someone needs blood

Every day there is requirement of at least 38,000 blood donations

A total of 30 million blood components are transfused each year

The average red blood cell transfusion is approximately 3 pints

The blood type mostly requested by hospitals is Type O

Sickle cell patients require frequent blood transfusions throughout their lives

More than 1 million new people are diagnosed with cancer each year. Many of them will need blood, sometimes daily, during their chemotherapy treatment

A car accident victim requires as much as 100 units of blood

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