Blood Bank fears shortage

The Blood Bank has reported that it fears shortage of blood in Kathmandu if the strike called by the Maoists is not called off shortly.

Public Relations Officer of the bank, Sabita Singh, told Nepalnews on Monday that they have stock of around 400 pints of blood at present.

"We fear that the capital will have shortage of blood as we have not received any invitations to blood donation programs before Thursday (9th Feb), " she said.

She said that they have been requesting the consumers for the replacement of blood taken out from the bank to prevent scarcity during the strike. However, the rate of replacement is very low. According to the official, only around 20 pints have been replaced daily. If the situation continues, Kathmandu valley will have shortage of blood in the next two days.

The bank has requested the consumers to return the blood if it could not be used.

"We would not have this much in stock if our branches outside the valley didn't send us part of their stock," Singh added. The bank was able to maintain the present stock which was received from its branches in 12 districts outside Kathmandu before the strike began.

Around 200 pints of blood are required in Kathmandu daily. In normal days, especially on Saturdays, the bank used to collect over 400 pints of blood per day. For the next three days, there will not be any blood collection around the country. nepalnews.com ia feb 06 06