Dengue effect: Supply-hit blood banks struggle as platelet demand goes up in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: The post-COVID dip in blood collection at private blood banks across Bengaluru has had a ripple effect now: The current dengue surge - the city is reporting about 200 cases every day - has pushed up the demand for platelets.

The private blood banks in Bengaluru put the average drop in their collection at about 10-15 per cent . The banks attribute it to the emergence of work-from-home culture in multinational corporations (MNCs), rejection of blood donors, and altered health conditions post COVID.

"With the dengue spike, we have a daily demand for 40 to 50 units of platelets to meet but we are getting a supply of only 15 to 20 units. The demand has risen substantially over the past few weeks in July. In 2019, we collected 37,000 units of blood. In 2023, we managed to collect only 26,000 units. In the last seven months of 2024, we have procured 15,000 units of blood," Sridhar, a lab technician from Red Cross, told TOI.

According to him, the emergence of numerous private blood banks in the market with mobile facilities has impacted their blood collection. "Our primary source of donations is MNCs and the camps we organise. Now that MNCs have adopted a hybrid work culture, we urge them to make blood donation mandatory, and we can arrange camps on the days when employees come to office. Changed health conditions and frequent deaths in the middle-age group have also instilled fear in people, hindering them from coming forward to donate blood," he said.

Chandrashekar R, a social worker at Rashtrotthana Blood Centre, said they are having a tough time meeting the demand, particularly for single-donor platelets (SDP). "In July, we had 60-70 patients requesting SDP; however, we could provide them to only 30-40 people. Work-from-home system and online classes were the major reasons for the dip in donations," he added.

Unfit and unwilling

Deepak from Lion's Blood Bank, Vasanth Nagar, attributed the decline to rejection of donors. "In 2019, we used to collect 20,000 to 22,000 units of blood. But now, until July this year, we had collected around 8,000 units. After COVID, many donors are not fit to donate blood. Some have developed high haemoglobin levels, while others have diabetes and other health issues," he said.

According to him, on normal days, they have a demand for 20 to 30 units, but in the past few weeks of July, it has escalated to 70 to 80 units per day. "Although we are currently managing the situation, we may require additional supply considering the monsoon season. In a typical week, we usually procure at least 100 units of blood, but at present, we are only receiving 20 to 30 units," Deepak added.