KOLKATA: A seamless effort by four government institutes and Swasthya Bhawan saved the life of a 30-year-old woman from Baruipur who needed the rare Bombay blood group.
Kamala Chakraborty, who was battling severe post-partum haemorrhage, is now out of danger and recuperating at the Baruipur Sub-Divisional Hospital.
The patient was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition with post-partum haemorrhage, which is a complication after childbirth. She needed blood transfusion and the blood group was unknown to the patient's kin.
Even as the blood centre at the Baruipur Sub-Divisional Hospital suspected Bombay blood group, it did not have the facility for confirmation.
The patient's blood sample was sent to Institute of Blood Transfusion Medicine and Immunohematology at Medical College Hospital Kolkata, from where it was confirmed as the Bombay blood group.
While assuring the patient's family of helping them out by matching the donor, doctors at the Baruipur Sub-Divisional Hospital advised testing the blood group of the patient's siblings.
It was found that her brother's blood group matched. However, the patient needed two units. And the hunt for the second donor started.
On Friday, the patient's family approached the Central Blood Bank at Maniktala for the second unit of blood.
Without wasting much time, the institute director Swapan Soren immediately contacted Samarjit Roy, assistant director, voluntary blood donation at Swasthya Bhawan, where a registry of rare blood donors is maintained. A matching donor from Pathar Pratima was located. But the donor Sudhir Manna was unwilling to come all the way to Baruipur.
Health officials convinced Manna to donate the blood at Kakdwip Sub-Divisional Hospital. Roy along with Abhijit Mandal, assistant director (medical) at the State Blood Transfusion Council arranged for the logistics to save the life.
