Voluntary blood donation low in India, mandatory NAT test may ensure safety

While India continues to face a deficit in blood donation making Nucleic Acid Testing NAT mandatory may ward off the risk of infections to those requiring regular blood transfusions said experts here on TuesdayNational Voluntary Blood Donation is celebrated on October 1 every year to raise awareness about the importance of blood and the need for voluntary blood donationIndia has consistently fallen short of the World Health Organizations recommendation that 1 per cent of the population donate blood This is despite having a potential donor base of 402 million peopleWhile the country needs 146 million units of blood annually it faces a deficit of around one million unitsMyths and misconceptions about contracting infections like HIV and lack of awareness are the major reasons for the lack of volunteer blood donations in India said the expertsVoluntary blood donation in India has seen growth yet there remains a significant gap in meeting the national demand majorly due to lack of awareness RishiRaj Sinha transfusion medicine Specialist AIIMS Delhi saidPeople probably do not know that there are so many people out there who need blood regularly That is why there is no motivation to give blood voluntarily a reason why there is so much demandsupply gap added Anubha Taneja Mukherjee member Secretary of the Thalassemia Patient Advocacy GroupFurther safe blood supply to needy patients such as those who require repeated blood transfusions is also a concern said the experts This can be eased by making Nucleic Acid Testing NAT mandatoryNo blood is donated to any patient across India without proper testing But NAT is extremely beneficial as the highlysensitive method of testing blood can detect even the lowest amount of virus in the blood Sinha saidNAT test improves the safety of donor blood for transfusion V K Khanna director Institute of Child Health Preeti Tuli Thalassemia Unit at Sir Ganga Ram HospitalWhen compared with routinely performed tests on donor blood NAT test reduces the chances of transmission of certain infections such as HIV Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C by early detection of these infections in donor blood he addedThe expert explained that the implementation of NAT testing on donor blood would benefit everyone who receives a blood transfusion especially those patients who receive repeated blood transfusions such as patients of thalassemia sickle cell disease haemophilia aplastic anaemia cancer kidney disease and others conditionsMukherjee said safe blood is a huge challenge especially for patients with thalassemia who need blood every 15 to 20 daysBecause we do not have much voluntarily donated blood if screening is stringent then probably that will take care of the safety aspect at least she said urging the government to make NAT testing mandatory throughout India at least in government hospitalsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever