RC Bombay Bandra donates three vehicles for cancer care

Rotary Club of Bombay Bandra, RID 3141, along with Patel Integrated Logistics and the alumni of St Xavier’s School (­Jaipur), has donated three vehicles costing around ₹63 lakh to the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) to facilitate the collection of blood at various blood donation camps the hospital organises at regular intervals.

These vehicles, donated from Jan 2017 onwards, are of immense help to the hospital in ferrying team members and camp material, along with the collected blood units, at regular intervals. “They ensure that the blood can be separated into different components within the stipulated time, thus maximising the precious blood resources,” says Syed K Husain, a senior member of this club and Director, Patel Integrated Logistics.

Masroor Ali, past president of the club, 2016–17, adds that from Jan 2017 to Dec 2018, the hospital could organise 344 blood donation camps and 21 platelet donor registration camps with the help of these well-equipped blood bank vans. Around 28,880 units of blood have been collected till recently. “More than 35,000 patients have ­benefited, thanks to the timely transport of the blood units from the camps to the hospital, maintaining the cold chain and preventing deterioration of the precious blood collected,” says Johnson Lukose, from the Tata Memorial Hospital.

The project was conceptualised when the Rotarians handed over the first vehicle to the hospital. “While we were being taken around the facility on a guided tour, we were impressed by the sensitivity that TMC showed in handling the patients who come here for cancer treatment,” says Husain. The doctors said every day the hospital needs 90 units of blood for transfusion to cancer patients, but this is difficult with just one vehicle. TMC conducts 6,300 major surgeries a year, all requiring blood/platelet transfusion. The shortage of blood was a constant worry and it could not be met by walk-in donors and family/friends of patients. Strict standards are maintained here for the quality of blood and the hospital needed two more vehicles to ensure the demand was met.

While the performance of the first van they had donated was excellent, the problem was that the vehicle had to return within six hours to the hospital as the blood had to be separated into components; hence two more vehicles were needed.

Once again RC Bombay Bandra, Patel Integrated Logistics and the St Xavier’s School alumni came together to raise the rest of the money and the other two vehicles were donated to the hospital.