Think Foundation was mandated by the State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) to organize blood donation drives at Dadar and Andheri station, on an experimental basis. Air-conditioned structures admeasuring 250 sq.ft. and equipped with cots were erected in both these stations. Daily blood donations were carried out after drawing up a calendar to decide the blood bank for each day.
Volunteers from Think Foundation and the NSS Units of various colleges were responsible for motivating donors, coordinating with the blood bank staff and handing over donors cards and other recognition material to blood donors. This experiment was successfully carried out from May to Nov. 2007 at Dadar station and Aug to Dec 2007 at Andheri station. The exercise was repeated at Dadar Station again from 1st May 2008 to 30th November 2008.
Railway Station Drives had a major role in providing life-saving Platelets, which are required by a lot of patients during the monsoon period due to increase in the incidence of malaria, dengue and leptospirosis. Since Platelets have a life of only 5 days, it does not make sense to collect a large quantity of Platelets at one time. What is desired is a continuous collection of Platelets. This was possible thanks to the daily collection of blood units at the railway stations. Component separation of the blood collected ensured that Platelets were available all the time.
Permission to conduct daily drives at 6 to 8 railway station in Mumbai can provide the solution to ensuring 100 % voluntary blood donation in the city. This model can be replicated in other cities in the country. The daily Railway Station Drives coordinated by Think Foundation were a feather in the cap for the State Blood Transfusion Council.
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