Ever donated blood? You might have, at least
in your college days. Finding the needy, or visiting the hospital as a
volunteer donor, the proud moments of blood donation and a tea and Parle-G
biscuits following it, comprises the memories of blood donation…
But, have you ever thought beyond that,
thought about the sanctity of your act and yourself? Don’t worry, I will make
you do so, through this article… Go on, read it completely.
Light Lives..!
A single unit of blood you donated may save
three lives! Yes, you don’t need to be a doctor to save someone’s life and to
get adorned as their incarnated God. Your blood is made up of several
components like red blood cells, Plasma and Platelets. The medical officers
will separate these components from the donated blood, so that a single unit of
blood can be used for 3 patients, serving their particular function.
How long the blood cells live?
The separated elements of blood definitely
have its expiry, which varies from days to years. Due to this short shelf-life
of blood components, blood banks need to recharge their banks, constantly to
ensure availability all the time. Below is the life span of components in a
donated blood.
Ø Platelets can be stored for up to 7 days
Ø Red blood cells can be stored for up to 5 weeks
Ø Plasma lives long, up to 3 years
Who can be a donor?
Every healthy person can save someone’s life,
donating their blood. But make sure you satisfy the following criteria:
Ø Should weigh above 50 kg.
Ø Ageing between 18 – 66 years.
Ø Under normal blood pressure, while donating
blood.
Ø Men can donate their blood once in every
three months.
Ø Women can donate their blood once in every
four months.
Ø Should be free from communicable diseases
like HIV/AIDS, HTLV or hepatitis.
Don’t worry much; the medical officer will
take a check before accepting your blood.
How can you match the blood groups?
Though A, B, O and AB are the most common
blood groups; there exist A- B- O- and AB- blood groups too, as rare blood
groups. This variation demands high care while transfusing blood, since every
blood group doesn’t match each other. Following are the matching blood groups:
Ø O- is the universal donor, they can receive blood
from O- only.
Ø AB+ is the universal receiver. God’s grace, they
can receive blood from any group. But they can donate to someone with same
blood group, to AB+ only.
Ø A+ can donate blood to both A+ and AB+ and
can receive from A+ A- O+ O-
Ø B+ can donate blood to B+ and AB+, and can receive
from B+, B-, O+, O-
Ø O+ can donate blood to all O+, A+, B+ and AB+
but can receive only from O+ and O-
Ø A- can donate to a whole lot blood groups
like, A+ A- AB+ AB- but can receive two groups only, from A- and O-
Ø B- can donate their blood to B+ B- AB+ AB-
but can receive only from B- and O-
Ø AB- can donate their blood to both AB+ and
AB-, whereas it can receive from AB- A- B- and O-
Know these facts too
Ø
Every two seconds
and someone needs blood, raising a demand for more than 38,000 blood donations
a day.
Ø
Donors can also have blood drawn for their own future use.
This is known as an autologous donation.
Ø
The amount of blood withdrawn varies from 350ml- 450ml. It
normally takes 24hrs for the blood volume to be replaced. And red cells get
replaced in about 6 weeks.
Pic Courtesy : Google
