Bonded by blood

A stranger can save your life. That's the philosophy behind an online blood donor registry, started in 2005 that lists over 80,000 donors in the country. So far, 50,000 lives have been saved in the last five years

On March 25, an elderly Pune-based businessman required an urgent blood transfusion, post surgery. A relative who logged on to friendstosupport (.org) at 9 am, was able to get three donors by 10.30 am. The surgery was successfully performed at 2 pm the same day.

On February 13, last year, the day of the German Bakery blasts, 200 blood transfusions were facilitated through the same site.

Twenty-six-year-old entrepreneur Dhiraj Jain is proud to have played a role in making those transfusions possible. "I studied in a Pune hostel where students were approached to donate blood during emergency cases at hospitals close by. That's when I realised the challenge in reaching donors on short notice," he says.

Dhiraj decided to compile a list of 2,000 donors in Pune. In 2005, he got together with four friends from the IT industry to start friendstosupport (.org) to provide an online platform for donors and patients, and to reach out to more people.

Today, they have donors in 1,000 cities, including the metros Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata, as well as from remote villages across the country.

How to register
In case of a medical emergency requiring a blood transfusion, all you need to do is select the blood group you require, choose the state/ district/ city it's required in, and then select from a list of names and contact details of potential donors.

If a donor has recently donated blood, the donor is listed as 'unavailable'. You can also register yourself as a donor on the site.

The site lists interesting facts about blood that help you overcome any misconceptions you might have about donating blood.

"We have 80,000 registered donors. On average, 200 blood donations take place every day through the site. So far, we have been instrumental in saving 50,000 lives," he added.

In 2009, friendsto-support (.org) won the United Nations Millennium Development Goals award. Jain stresses that the site is a free, voluntary service. "Neither the donors nor the patients need to pay to avail of the facility.

The donors are like friends of the patients. There have been cases where donors have voluntarily
tended to patients in the absence of family members."