BANGALORE: A 70-year-old from Istanbul in Turkey needed blood and help came from Bangalore. Ahmed, while undergoing medical tests, was found to have Bombay O+ blood group. Seven days later, he was diagnosed with lung cancer.
The hospital in Turkey required three units of blood to conduct his surgery. And that’s when it became clear how rare the Bombay blood group was.
But luck prevailed. On February 20, Sankalp India Foundation in Bangalore received a blood request from the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Istanbul University, Turkey. They had come across an initiative of the Foundation, which networks Bombay Blood Group donors, needy and associated blood banks in India.
Ten days ago, Ahmed’s 21-year-old son Zirak Ahmed flew back to Istanbul from Bangalore, after collecting blood units from the Sankalp blood bank. Such happy endings have been facilitated many times by the Foundation.
Four months ago, a 60-year-old patient at M S Ramaiah hospital was looking for the same blood group for his heart ailment. “We had to airlift the blood units of Bombay blood group from a donor in Mumbai. Persons with this rare blood group are usually found in Maharashtra, north coastal Karnataka and West Bengal. But due to migration, such patients can be seen utside India also,” said Dr V Nandakishore, chief of blood bank at M S Ramaiah hospital.
He says there are cases where patients with Bombay blood phenotype have donated blood to themselves in what is called autologous process. “In case of non-availability of blood during surgeries, we draw required units of blood from the same patient and use it during the surgery. Autologous blood transfusion can be done depending upon the stability of patients,” said Dr Nandakishore.
WHAT IS BOMBAY BLOOD GROUP?
Bombay Blood Group is present in 0.0004% of global human population, belonging to O+ve category. In India, one among 10,000-17,000 persons has this blood group. Individuals with this blood group can only be transfused with similar blood.
This phenotype was discovered by Dr Y N Bhende in Bombay in 1952. Individuals with this blood group lack ‘H’ antigen or protein or substance in their red blood cells, which is a rarity.
According to Dr C Shiva Ram, vice-chairman, Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology, four years ago, there were only 4-6 such donors in Bangalore, but now the number is around 600. But this number is limited compared to the number of requests we get.
“We have maintained a database of donors. When a patient with Bombay blood group is identified, closer relatives will also be screened. Because this is a rare blood group,
Such patients must also have details of donors. Not all blood banks will have units of this blood group ,” said Dr Shiva Ram.
No registry in India
Unlike US and UK, in India there is no registry maintained by the government to help persons with rare blood groups. “We are making our efforts to form such a registry which can save many lives,” said Dr Shiva Ram. In the absence of such registry, Sankalp India Foundation has established , that provides the network among persons with the rare blood group.
via Istanbul man finds blood donor in Bangalore – The Times of India.