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MYSURU: As if the pandemic wasn’t enough, blood banks and organisers of blood donation camps now face another problem: Rumours surrounding the Covid-19 vaccine.
When Covid hit and cases peaked, blood donation was badly impacted as very few people were willing to visit blood banks or hospitals for fear of the virus. As a result, patients who needed blood faced a hard time.
Now, with the inoculation drive in progress, blood banks are facing a similar challenge. What is adding confusion is different rules followed by various blood banks.
Some blood banks are advising donors not to donate within the first 90 days of receiving the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
MYSURU: Some blood banks in Mysuru are struggling to meet the demand from hospitals as the number of daily donors, especially first-time volunteers, continues to remain low despite fewer Covid-19 cases in recent months. The tight supply of blood units is causing problems for patients, including pregnant women, who need to undergo emergency surgery.
Social media and residents’ groups are flooded with requests for blood donors every day. According to Dr Manjunath BS, the blood bank officer at KR Hospital, 45 to 50 people used to donate blood at the facility every day before the pandemic. The number has fallen to 25 to 30. “Covid fear is the reason for the drop. Fortunately, we are not facing a shortage,” he added. Dr BH Manjunath, the director of DRM Multi-Speciality Hospital, said that it used to have a buffer stock of 300 to 400 units for emergencies. This stock has shrunk now. “We used to get 50 to 100 units from a single blood donation camp. Such camps are not being organ