Feature

Safe blood transfusion for safe life
Yes it's a common question. Here is the answer

Md. Jamal U. Tanin

Blood group, what is it?
When blood transfusion from one person to another was first attempted it was successful in several cases but fatal post transfusion reactions were observed too. Later it was discovered that human blood differs from man to man due to the presence of several antigens and antibodies. Antigens are polysaccharides present in the cell membrane of red blood cell (RBC) and antibodies are immunoglobulin of plasma (fluid portion of blood) and reacts with specific antigen. Although there are about 30 common antigens are found but two particular systems are more likely to cause blood transfusion reactions. They are OAB system of antigens and Rh system.

OAB system is based on the presence of antigen A and B. According to OAB system the blood groups are:

It shows that blood can not contain A or B antigen when there is presence of anti-A or anti-B antibodies respectively. This is called Land Steiner's Law.

Rh system is based on the presence of Rh antigens named C, D, E, c, d, and e. Among them most important is D. A person having D antigen is Rh positive and on other case is negative.

The percentage of O, A, B, AB group among white people is respectively 47%, 41%, 9% and 3%. 85% of them Rh positive and 15% negative. There is not any proper inquiry in case of Bangladesh. A study in Lion's Blood Bank Chittagong among 1500 people has found 537 person O positive, 22 O negative, 360 A positive, 14 A negative, 430 B positive,13 B negative 116 AB positive and 8 AB negative.

Hazards of blood transfusion:
In case of blood transfusion it is a must to match the blood group of the donor with the recipient. Otherwise there will be post transfusion effects like-

1. Hemolysis that is the break down of RBC due to mismatched antigen antibody reaction known as agglutination.
2. Shivering and restlessness
3. Chest and back pain
4. Nausea and vomiting
5. Jaundice.
6. Fall of blood pressure and state of shock felt by the patient
7. Kidney shutdown that can begin within a few minutes to few hours and continue until death.

On the other hand matched blood is not safe always as many diseases can be transmitted from one person to another by blood. HIV, hepatitis, syphilis, malaria, allergic micro organisms and various bacterial or viral substances can destroy an innocent life just for our unconsciousness. Using stored blood is not helpful at all in some disease like leukaemia that demands regular blood transfusion. Death of patient in Operation Theater for not managing blood in time is common in our hospitals. There is always probability of going to hospital for a common disease and returning with HIV in blood if transfused blood is not screened properly.

Matter to think:
While mismatched and unsafe blood transfusion is causing such harm to us the question comes how much concerned are we regarding that? The fact is, even many educated person in our country do not know what his own blood group is! As hospitals and clinics mostly do not have proper storage of blood it is an obvious for patients' relatives to look for blood in professional blood banks that are the usual source of getting blood of an addict or infected person. Voluntary organizations like Sondhani , ADHUNIK can not supply safe blood to that extremely huge demand. As a result transfusion miseries have become very common phenomenon in our country.

Simple solution:
But we can easily solve the problem by donating blood regularly. Volume of blood in human body is about 5-6 thousand cc. Life span of RBC is 120 days. So a person aged between eighteen to fifty-seven, having normal hemoglobin level and weight according to length and age, free from disease that can be transmitted through blood, not taking any antibiotic currently, free from drug or external infections, and not having operation in last six months, in fact a normal person can donate a bag blood that is only about 350 cc, once every four months. There is not any danger at all in donating blood if the conditions are fulfilled. But most of the people of our country are superstitious and unwilling about that.

What to do?
We can celebrate our national festivals like Noboborsho, Independence Day and Eid by organizing blood grouping and donating camps. All cultural programmes should be accompanied by this programme. Lively people in all the campus of Bangladesh can make a great impact to solve the problem. Multinational companies should sponsor blood donation programmes instead of only paying attention to concerts and fashion shows. Voluntary organizations like Sondhani, ADHUNIK are always rendering their helping hand in this regard.

So, let's move:
“A patient in Dhaka Medical needs blood. Necessary group is……….” Hearing this advertisement a person from Savar went to the hospital and found him just late as the patient had just breathed his last. The patient's mother bursting into tear said that there were millions of people living close to the hospital could easily save the life but they never tried what the man from remote area did. Can not we learn anything from that story? If our blood can offer a new life to a person and his family with out making a single loss of our own then why we are staying behind. Can not we prove again that we are still human beings with humanity and love for others?

Md. Jamal U. Tanin,
Student, 47th MBBS,CMC

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