Alternative to Civil disobedience for Safe Blood...

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So – are there alternative solutions other than breaking the law or allowing people to explore accessing care elsewhere?

Yes, a few…

One – set up blood banks – 15 to 20 Lacs for building and equipment, trained manpower and a series of inspections and licenses, which need to be renewed every few years. Realistic – yes in potentially 15% of the current contexts where Blood is required…

Two – Accredit yourself as Storage Centers of an existing Bank. Within a limited distance only, need to have Bank which can allow these storage centers. Need to keep “X” number of Blood always and return and replace….Realistic – tried but failed…..

Three – collect blood from nearby banks in emergency – but if the nearest is 30 to 100 kms away…..will the patient remain alive till then….When the received blood has a PCV of less than 10 or Hb of 3 or 4, or when one finds that the received blood is HIV positive and or if the patient has to shell out anywhere between 2000 to 5000/- for one bottle of blood…?

Fourth – break the law by Un-Banked Direct Transfusions….UBDT……? Today yet another hospital was raided, for UBDTs…..again for saving lives….

Law has to change….but who will change the law….The urbanites in the Metros are not affected, so the story has no Media interest…..The Blood banks are not affected…they are making money anyway….so the market forces are not interested…The state is not interested….HIV prevalence is dropping…Maternal Mortality is someone else’s problem…..

It affects the poor, communities from the not so visible in rural India – the invisible Bharat…people whose voices which are not normally heard….are there someone who will carry these voices to the corridors of power…?

Civil disobedience – is that the answer…but how many of us are willing to go to jail…follow Mahatma’s footsteps…

Again a request for those who have ideas to contribute…..

 

 

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