A Mumbai NGO has begun a mission to match thalassemic children with fixed blood donors, to ensure a good life and longevity for them. It aims to ‘adopt’ 450 thalassemic children from Wadia and KEM Hospital in Parel for this. Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder involving lower-than-normal amounts of haemoglobin. Those afflicted need regular blood transfusions.

‘A pilot project’

“It is a pilot project and we aim to have fixed blood donors for each thalassemic child. These children require blood transfusion after every 15-21 days and are generally dependent on random donors,” said Vikas Vira, president, NGO Tarun Mitra Mandal, which works in the field of organ, blood donations etc.