Shahed Mehbub, the father of a five-year-old boy who is a thalassemia patient, dreads the bleak days ahead, as due to the shutdown enforced across Bangladesh to stem the coronavirus outbreak, acquiring blood for regular transfusion is becoming increasingly difficult.
A resident of Dhaka, Mehbub used to get members of his family, friends or colleagues to donate blood for his son when the situation was normal.
But since the shutdown began, a sense of worry continues to haunt him. He keeps worrying about how he will get blood for his son in the next three or four months if the coronavirus crisis deepens.
"Most people are now staying home for safety, to avoid Covid-19 transmission. Among the donors I know, many are unwilling to travel to different parts of Dhaka or to the hospitals, as the risk of transmission is there," said Mehbub, who works at an international development organization.
His son received his last transfusion of blood - B-positive - on March 29 after he arranged transport for the donor to come to the transfusion centre and go back home.
The next date of transfusion is on April 29, but Mehbub doesn’t know if the donor will agree to come and donate blood for his son.
Thalassemia is a blood disorder in which red blood cells cannot survive. Regular transfusion is mandatory for a patient of thalassemia to have a healthy, regular life.
There are many others like Mehbub who need blood during the shutdown, for their loved ones who have thalassemia or cancer, and need regular blood transfusion.
Organizations operating blood donation and transfusion services in Dhaka said the volume of blood donation had declined since the first week of March as Bangladesh started reporting confirmed cases of Covid-19, an extremely contagious and deadly respiratory illness caused by a new strain of coronavirus named Sars-CoV-2.
The country first confirmed three cases of Covid-19 infection on March 8. The numbers of new detections were low and steady throughout March, but started to increase rapidly in April, since testing increased.
As of April 10, 424 people have tested Covid-19 positive since March 8. Of them, 33 have made full recovery, and 27 have died.
The decline in donation
Bangladesh has been observing a countrywide general holiday since March 26 to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The general holiday was extended for the third time on Friday, till April 25.
The government has been encouraging people to stay at home. Public transports have been restricted across the country, with many of the areas put under lockdown as preventive measures.
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune on Thursday, Dr Moniruzzaman, coordinator of voluntary blood donation program at Quantum Foundation, said the number of blood donors is decreasing gradually, and the trend may get worse if the crisis continues.
The foundation, which largely collects blood from voluntary donors, said they received about 8,000 bags of blood in January, but the number fell to 7,000 in March.
"Since the shutdown began on March 26, the overall situation is worsening and the panic is increasing among people. If the situation continues, the number of blood bags we receive will drop further," he added.
Besides, as the month of Ramadan is going to begin in a couple of weeks, the crisis may deepen further a many people avoid donating blood due to Ramadan fasting.
Less demand for blood too
Moniruzzaman said the demand for blood has also dropped in Dhaka.
He said they are communicating with the registered voluntary donors of Quantum Foundation -- about 50,000 in total -- regularly to encourage them to donate blood for people in need.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Bangladesh requires 1-1.1 million bags of blood every year.
Dr Tarek M Hussain, director of blood program at Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, said most of their blood donations are received from outdoor events, but 18 out of the total 22 events scheduled for March were cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
"We do have some registered donors, but most of the blood comes from outdoor programs when we visit organizations like universities, corporate offices or banks for blood collection,” he told Dhaka Tribune on Thursday.
“As all educational institutions have been closed since mid-March and offices from the last week of March, most of those events were cancelled, affecting the donation program," he added.
The Red Crescent official said they were now providing those needing blood mostly from blood collected in recent times.
Two-thirds of the blood collection has already dropped, he added. “We are now requesting people to bring donors with them for blood transfusion.”
Dr Tarek said his organization was able to distribute only about 1,100 bags of blood in March this year, against 3,600 bags of blood in March last year.
"Making phone calls to donors, through messages posted on our website, and using personal networks, we are appealing to people to donate blood. If individuals from an area or institution contact us for donation in big volume, we will send a team to the area for blood collection," he added.
