India’s blood requirement is about 6
million units per year. Blood Banks are able
to collect only about 3 million units per year.
Patients actually die because the right kind
of blood does not reach them in time. The heavy
shortfall in supply encourages racketeering
in blood and blood products. It also encourages
blood donation for money, encouraging “
professional” donorship. Professional
donors come from weaker sections of the society
and are rarely in ideal health for blood donation
and do it only for commercial reasons. The risk
of infection is also high in blood collected
from professional donors.
It is believed that if 2% of India’s
population donates blood once a year, the blood
requirement of the country can be easily met.
Webhealthcentre.com has created the Bloodline
service as a forum to encourage voluntary blood
donation. This service also hopes to encourage
direct interaction between patients, donors
and blood banks.
We invite Donors, Patients and Blood banks
to make use of this space to acquire more information
about each other and also to make use of the
services provided specially for each group.
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Blood
performs many important functions within the
body including:
Supply of oxygen to tissues (bound to hemoglobin
which is carried in red cells)
Supply of nutrients such as glucose, amino
acids and fatty acids (dissolved in the blood
or bound to plasma proteins)
Removal of waste such as carbon dioxide, urea
and lactic acid
Immunological functions, including circulation
of white cells, and detection of foreign material
by antibodies
Coagulation, which is one part of the body's
self-repair mechanism
Messenger functions, including the transport
of hormones and the signalling of tissue damage
Regulation of body pH (the normal pH of blood
is in the range of 7.35 - 7.45)
Regulation of core body temperature
Hydraulic functions
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