BLOOD DONATION
Overview
When a person gives
away blood for the use of other people, it is called “Blood Donation”. Blood
donations are very much important for health care system. If there are o
volunteers of blood than there will be much more deaths and more complications
related to health care issues.
How the blood is
donated
There are different
blood collecting organizations working in different areas of the world. These
organizations held sessions for blood collection. Representatives of the
organization ask few questions about your health and a take a test of your
blood to become confident that there is no danger to you or the person to whom
this blood is to be used. 470 ml of your blood is collected during the blood
donation. After the blood collection you are asked to take rest for some time
and refreshments are offered to you. It is recommended to keep a gap of 12
weeks for men and 16 weeks for women between the blood donations.
Use of blood donated
Mostly your blood is
separated into its components (Red cells, platelet and plasma) to use these in
different situations.
Plasma is used in
abnormal clotting causing bleeding, liver disease and when a large volume of
blood has been lost.
Red blood cells are
used in situations of anemia and to replace the blood due to an accident.
Platelets are used in
leukemia and persons with blood clotting disorders.
It also can be used to
improve the life of a person with a terminal illness.
Blood donations types
There are different
types of blood donations, some important one are shortlisted below for your
information. These donations are used for different purposes.
(i)
Platelet donation:
-
If there is
high number of platelet count in the blood, these may be donated directly as
the normal blood donated. But, the difference between the normal blood donation
and the platelet donation is that it takes longer. It is used for person who
has fever platelets in the blood
(ii)
Cord blood donation:
-
Cord
blood is taken from placenta and umbilical cord and it is donated after the
baby birth. Decision of donation is taken before the birth. This blood is rich
in stem cells and it is used for leukemia and other conditions.
Everyone can donate
blood?
People between the ages
of 17 to 65 can donate but it is not enough, your health is important thing
which can allow the donation of blood. Every healthy person between the ages of
17 to 65 can donate except the person with HIV, Syphilis and hepatitis C.
More need of blood
donation
It has been researched
that in developed countries there are large number of people who could donate
blood. But, merely 4% of them actually donate. This percentage is very low
keeping in view the blood needs. In developed countries about 7000 blood
transfusions are carried daily. Therefore the need could not be fulfilled with
the existing stock of blood. Another problem for fulfilling the blood needs is
that donated blood can’t be stored for a longer period of time, stock of blood
is need to be refreshed continuously. We take the example of red blood cells;
it has to be refreshed after every 35 days.