Blood Crunch Hits Kala-azar Patients in Saptari

Byas Shanker Upadhyaya Rajbiraj, June 7

Shortage of blood at the Rajbiraj blood transfusion centre has hampered the treatment of kala-azar patients at the Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital.
The number of kala-azar patients is rising with the rise in temperature, doctors at the hospital said. They said they are finding it difficult to treat kala-azar patients because of shortage of blood at the transfusion centre.
Nepal Red Cross Society Saptari is running a blood collection centre on the hospital premises, but it is not getting enough donors, limiting its reserve to 10 units of O+ve blood, said Kewal Pokharel of the centre. "The demand for blood has gone up due to the spread of kala-azar," Pokharel said. "We need at least five units of blood every day, but we have not been able to meet this demand."
President of the Human Rights Network, Saptari, Shambhunanda Chaudhary, said people seemed to have lost interest in donating blood as the NRCS failed to honour them. Chaudhary, who donated blood 23 times, said, "Not a single certificate was issued for donating blood. How can such a practice encourage blood donors?"
President of the Consumers' Forum Nepal, Saptari, Shatrughan Prasad Dev, said blood is brought from Dharan, Biratnagar and other places to ease the crunch. "Bandh and strikes make it difficult to transport blood from these places," he said.
Senior public health administrator Rakesh Kumar Thakur said, "As kala-azar patients require more blood than other patients, there should be enough blood in reserve."
The shortage of blood has also hindered maternity services, said a health worker Krishna Kumar Yadav.
source- the himalayan times.