- Reviews the safe handling of platelets donated and supplied
- Makes an Appeal to the people to donate more platelets in wake of Dengue Season
- A healthy person can donates platelets after every 72 hours
Nawanshahr: With a view to take stock of safe handling of platelets and other blood components at local BDC Blood Center, Deputy Commissioner Navjot Pal Singh Randhawa paid a surprise visit to the Blood Center here today.
He also interacted with the donors who were present there to donate platelets .
DC Randhawa appealed to people to donate as many platelets as possible to help the victims during Dengue fever season. He said that a healthy person can donate platelets every 72 hours while in case of blood donation, platelets can be donated only 28 days after donating blood.
Blood Transfusion Officer of Blood Center Dr Ajay Bagga (Retired Civil Surgeon) apprised the Deputy Commissioner of the safe storage of platelets donated by the people. He said that these are stored under the cold chain recommended by the Health Department . He said that it takes one and a half to two hours for a person to donate platelets. He said that the high standard kit used by the blood center for obtaining platelets and testing etc. costs about Rs 8000 .It is ensured that the platelets are from a healthy person (with at least two lakh platelets) and is supplied only after conducting all the necessary tests, including HIV and other tests. He said that 200 units of single donor platelets have been released from the blood center since January this year.
Deputy Commissioner also visited the Apheresis unit of the blood center where the separator and component units work. Dr Bagga said that at the blood center, Plasma is supplied for the needs of head injury patients, Red Blood Cells for those with Hemoglobin deficiency, Platelets for the treatment of Dengue patients. He said three experienced supervisors are posted for handling the entire unit.
The Deputy Commissioner said that the BDC Blood Center, started with the holy touch of Bhagat Puran Singh, has been working for the last 35 years in the service of humanity, but we have to ensure that the people get non-infectious Platelets and blood components to keep high the faith of them in the institution.