Blood Bank at Siliguri hospital runs dry due to COVID-19

The Regional Blood Transfusion Centre at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) in West Bengal's Siliguri is now facing an acute shortage of blood due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Sanjay Mallick, Medical Superintendent and Vice Principle (MSVP), the NBMCH said that the number of blood-donation camps has gone down in the wake of pandemic.

"The NBMCH needs at least 800 units of blood per month but now we are getting only 300 to 350 units," he said.

"Due to COVID-19, the number of blood-donation camps has gone down. As a result, the blood bank has dried out. Our junior doctors and medical staff are donating blood to fulfill the crisis," Mallick said.

Krishna Maji, a patient who needed the blood, said, "We are poor people, we have not enough money to purchase blood from the outside. We are facing problems due to this. The authority is not accepting any cards to issue a single unit. We are requesting the government to do something for us."

According to the official data, there are 44,441 active cases of COVID-19 in West Bengal.

( With inputs from ANI )

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor