AIIMS rare blood bank has only 100 listed donors

New Delhi: If you are in need of a donor who has a rare blood group, don’t end up at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). In a shocking revelation, in response to an RTI application, AIIMS says it has a list of just 100 people in the city who have rare blood groups. That is when Delhi has approximately five lakh people belonging to the rare blood group category, which is only .02 per cent of the total requirement.

On an average day AIIMS is most likely to get cases with trauma patients who are in urgent need of blood transfusions, but is Delhi equipped to handle such a disaster?

Rahul Verma from the Uday Foundation said, “It’s shocking and it is hard to believe that this is the state in AIIMS.”

The RTI response reveals that AIIMS has a record of only:

Six donors from the AB negative group
29 donors from the A negative group
33 donors from the B negative group
And 32 donors for O negative blood

Surprisingly, the hospital didn't have any registered donors for Bombay Blood Group. However, AIIMS has defended its position.

Medical Superintendent of AIIMS, Dr D K Sharma said, “To maintain a registry we need volunteers, but one can register the name of only those people who are willing to get registered. We cannot force anybody.”

But for eight-year-old Lavanya, this is bad news. As someone belonging to the rarest of the rare AB negative blood group category, her parents hope that she is never confronted with a crisis, which would require immediate blood transfusion.

Being the country's premier medical institute, AIIMS attracts thousands of patients everyday. But this RTI response reveals that in spite of its reputation, AIIMS is ill-equipped to handle a large-scale medical emergency.

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