By TCN News,
Aligarh: Now use your smart phones and laptops to request for blood from Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC). The ‘Blood and Components Bank’ of Aligarh Muslim University’s (AMU) JNMC has recently launched its website – help4blood.com – with which requesting and donating blood will become easier.
Since the launch, individuals and organizations interested in donating and requesting blood are registering themselves at the ‘Blood and Components Bank’ website, which opens with a message: ‘We can’t operate without you? Be a blood donor today’, a release from AMU said here.
“The University Blood Bank has been rated excellent among all blood banks running in Uttar Pradesh since 2011 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare run National AIDS Control Organization (NACO),” said Professor S H Arif, in charge of the Blood Bank.
Professor Arif added that JNMC’s Blood Bank has also been functioning as the nodal centre for the First Referral Unit (FRU) in the districts of Aligarh, Badaun, Hathras and Kashi Ram Nagar (Kasganj). “With the kind of JNMC’s Blood Bank’s network, it was important to have an updated website making it easier for people requesting and donating blood,” said Professor Arif.
“Besides requesting for blood and registering for blood donation, the viewers of help4blood.com can also view various blood camps organized by JNMC and search for news and events related with these blood camps,” said Professor Arif, who added that website also displays a gallery section with important information of various blood types.
He further said that the website also shows a feedback facility to have a two-way communication with the viewers and suggestions for improvements. “The registered blood donors and people requesting for blood will have their personal IDs on the website and their privacy will be maintained,” he added.
Blood Bank received license (No.04/SC/P of 1996) from Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for whole blood collection, processing and issue to the indoor patients in 1996. It was in 2010, JNMC’s Blood Bank started component preparation for PRBC, FFP, Platelets and Cryoprecipitate. After getting due permission from the FDA, the JNMC’s Blood Bank had catered to several thousands of patients from healthcare institutions in and around Aligarh and other adjoining districts.
At present 90-95% of blood units in the Blood Bank are prepared into components. Additionally, the Blood Bank further provides free blood to HIV positive, thallessemic patients, destitute persons and others as per NACO guidelines and also to poor and needy patients. Since 2010, the JNMC Blood Bank has also been working with Gel Technology for routine cross matching, blood grouping and coombs testing.
The Blood Bank’s website, help4blood.com is designed by Mohammad Saqib, Department of Computer Science, AMU, the release added.