For blood donation the age limit is 65 years of age while for platelet donation the age limit is 60 years of age.
After realising the shortage of platelets for patients in the city, blood donors, who started voluntarily donating blood to unknown patients, have themselves started creating awareness and organising blood donation camps.
Dr Pragji Vaja, organiser for Tarun Mitral Mandal, regularly arranges blood donation camps for KEM hospital once in four months. The mandal has been organising camps for 30 years now. According to Vaja, "In every camp, we manage to get over 4,000 (units) bottles of blood through donation. Every year, we conduct at least three camps and collect more than 10,000 bottles. Till date we have conducted 86 blood donation camps and have collected over 1.5 lakh units of blood."
Another platelet donor, Mehul Doshi, donated platelets 156 times till date since 2010. "I like to motivate donor and organise several blood donation camps at residential societies. There have been several misconceptions about blood and platelet donation. People are worried about getting infected. Many want to donate only during emergencies, which is not right. More awareness needs to be created."
Few donors voluntarily help to spread awareness among relatives and friends. Rajesh Rajan, who visits PD Hinduja Hospital and TMH for platelet donation, said, "I have been creating awareness among my relatives and friends. We need to speak about this more regularly to make a difference. My teenage nieces have started donating blood recently at donation camps."
Sanjay Bapat, regular platelet donor for the past 25 years in Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) has donated platelets more than 200 times. "People should donate without considering the caste or gender of patients. There are many patients in need of blood and platelets. By donating, we have a chance to give another person a chance at a healthy life," he said.
BLOOD DATA
- For blood donation the age limit is 65 years of age while for platelet donation the age limit is 60 years of age.
- Blood can be donated once in three months, platelet donation can be done every week.
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