At the Medical College Hospital alone a minimum of 300 units of blood is required daily and in the RCC a minimum of 200 units. These are the two hospitals where there is a huge demand for blood. The Medical College Hospital and Regional Cancer Centre have reached an agreement such that they mutually support sharing the blood components as per the need. But, as long there is no standardisation or adequate mechanism to check the sterilisation methods, we can only say a polite no”, he said. “They all claim that they use sterilised needles. Dr Ramesh said the unsafe practice of using the same needle on multiple persons was the major reason for avoiding pierced donors. They are collecting blood through campaigns and also from the relatives of the patients”, said Dr R Ramesh, project director of Kerala State AIDS Control Society. These two hospitals are having a huge demand for blood. The voluntary blood donation campaign is being carried out by the Medical College Hospital and Regional Cancer Centre. “They are in the high-risk category and it is not safe for them to donate blood for six months after tattooing. In the IT sector, from where we used to get more blood during campaigns, tattoos and body piercing have become a rage,’’ says Baby. “There is a risk in collecting blood from those who had followed unscientific methods for body piercing and tattoos.
Even though the authorities say that those who have done body piercing or tattoos can donate blood after six months or one year (for deep piercing), in many instances the blood collected from them have been found not safe. The studios offering tattoos are mushrooming in the city and there is no adequate check on the needles used by them,” said Baby P S, corporate communication manager with Penpol, who has been involved in organizing blood donation campaigns for over two decades in the district. “We have stopped collecting blood from the other colleges where we have found there are more youths with pierced bodies.
The voluntary blood donation campaign now concentrates only on schools, professional colleges and urban areas of the districts. Skipping breakfast, which has rather become a norm in the IT sector, is another factor as blood banks won’t take blood from those who haven’t had a proper breakfast. Many young techies now have hypertension and many others who work late night hours won’t have mandatory six-hour sleep on the day for making a donation”, said Brijesh P I, co-founder of Tejus, Technopark-based blood donation forum. “The rejection rate from IT community has increased in the last two years. Not only body piercing, but factors such as stress at the workplace and improper sleep pattern have also affected blood donation from Technopark.
At least 400 units of blood is required a day in the district,” said convenor of Kerala Blood Donors Forum, Aneesh P. But we are unable to source it since voluntary blood donation is not happening as earlier. “There is a huge demand for blood in almost every major hospital of the district on a daily basis. The blood banks used to depend on campuses and Technopark heavily as the presence of youth was high there. The blood bank authorities think it is a risk to take blood from those who have tattoos and studs as there is no guarantee on the needles used for body piercing and the possibility of the donor having some kind of infection. Thiruvananthapuram: Fad for tattoos and studs among youths, which is catching up fast in campuses, has hit the voluntary blood donation drive in the city.