Shortage of blood is said to be the biggest factor in the mounting death toll of dengue patients, claim blood bank attendants. Battles for blood have gained momentum in all public hospitals as dengue patients dig deeper in search of the supplement of life: blood. Patients’ caretakers said the most difficult step during the dengue recovery process was finding blood. They claimed they made countless trips to blood banks and wards in search of blood and those who found blood returned home healthy, while those who did not, their patients usually passed away. They said blood banks were under immense pressure, adding that blood was even being sold ‘in black’.
“If you have enough connections to arrange blood, your patient will survive. If, however, you do not, then its only bad news,” said Mehmood, an attendant at the blood bank in Mayo Hospital. He said only the people who brought donors with them left the hospital in good health, while the patients who passed away usually did so because they had failed to secure healthy blood.
Imran Nabi, a businessman who was in the dengue ward with his nephew, narrated the same story. “A man arrived from Kamokee to Jinnah Hospital with his son, who was diagnosed with dengue.” Imran said the son remained in the hospital for five days and his case was not that severe in the beginning. However, as dengue started swallowing his platelets, the child grew progressively weak. “There was a time when he started bleeding actively, and I saw the father running frantically around the hospital in search of blood, but he could find any,” said Imran, adding that there came a time when the man started begging anyone he saw in the hospital for blood, but he could not find any. His son eventually passed away, and only because he had been unable to find blood.
Shumaila, a cleaner at Mayo Hospital said such cases had been arriving in the hospital since the outbreak of dengue. She said she saw such cases every day, adding that the caretakers were usually seen involved in efforts to secure only one thing – blood. A young doctor at Services Hospital claimed that the dengue death toll would be controlled to quite an extent if blood was more readily available. A senior doctor seeking anonymity said this message had been sent to the health secretary many times, but the Punjab government was very late in complying with the demand. He said that since the Punjab chief minister had announced the opening of additional blood banks and increased blood donations, the situation had come under control.
