Posted by Haagen P. Cumlet
The biggest impact has been the promotion of voluntary blood donation amongst the public as a community responsibility, says Dr. Babu Chacko, chairman of Charitable Trust in charge of the Rotary Blood Bank Kottayam. He is a member of Rotary Club Kottayam that founded the blood bank together with other Rotary Clubs in the city of Kottayam ten years ago. Kottayam is located in the Indian state of Kerala and is part of Rotary District 3211.

Revenue Districts of Kottayam, Alleppey, Idukky and Pathanamthitta in Central Kerala with a population of 4.5 million did not have a blood bank with component facilities till 1998.

 

Victims of snake bites, leptospirosis (rat fever) dengue and other medical problems, who needed plasma, platelets or red cell concentrates had to hire taxis and go to the nearest available facility, some 130 kilometres away many a times in the middle of night. 

 

Realising the urgent need for a blood bank with components facilities, Rotary Clubs in Kottayam undertook an ambitious project of bridging this gap.

 

The blood bank became a reality when the project envisaged was supported by Rotary Club of Singapore East District 3310 and a 3H Grant was approved by the Rotary Foundation.

 

The Rotary Blood Bank was officially inaugurated in January 2000 and it is managed by a Charitable Trust as a purely charitable project under the chairmanship of Dr. Babu Chacko of RC Kottayam.

 

In the short span of ten years, the Rotary Blood Bank has helped to promote the concept of component usage amongst medical doctors, issued more than 68,000 units of blood and components,  thus helping to save many hundreds of lives, says Dr. Babu Chacko.

 

- We have also been able to provide blood and components worth 7.3 million rupees as a subsidy to poor patients, which incidentally surpassed the 3H Grant amount.

 

The biggest impact, however,  according to Dr. Babu Chacko, has been to promote the concept of voluntary blood donation , for which purpose blood donation camps are held regularly with the help of neighboring Rotary Clubs.

 

- We are slowly achieving the transfer of responsibility for the availability of blood and components to the community rather than placing it on the patients and their relatives, Dr. Babu Chacko  concludes.

 

Editors notes:  

 

Contact: Dr. Babu Chacko at: moderndc@gmail.com

 

For pictures related to this article, please go to the Photo Journal.

 

See also the related article "The World Health Day and blood donation".

 

Check in on the website that tells the story of District 3211 by clicking here.