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Frequently asked questions?
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Q: What is blood? How much blood does a person have?
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A: Blood is the red coloured fluid flowing continuously in our body's
circulatory system. About 1/12th of the body weight of a healthy individual is
blood. On an average there are about 5 - 6 litres of blood present.
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Q: How much blood do you take?
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In India 350 ml blood is collected from a blood donor weighing not less than 45
A: kilograms. Donors weighing more than 55 kilogramsmay donate upto 450 ml of
blood.
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Q: How can one blood donation save four lives ?
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A:The blood you donate is split into four components Red Blood Cells, Platelets,
Plasma and Cryoprecipitate
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Q: What are the components of blood and mention thier functions?
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A: Blood have three components named Plasma, RBC, WBC and Platelets.
(a) Plasma: acts as a vehicle to carry many substances like glucose, fats, and
proteins, enzymes, and hormones etc., in addition to the blood cells.
(b) Red Cells: carry oxygen from lungs to various body tissues and take back
carbon dioxide from the cells and tissues to be thrown out of body in the form
of exhaled air.
(c) White cells: mainly act as body scavengers and guards. They help in the
immune system of the body and act as defence forces of the body killing the
bacteria or any other organisms entering the body.
(d) Platelets: help in the clotting and coagulation of blood. We have
experienced in our life that whenever we get injured the bleeding stops after a
few minutes. This is brought about by a mechanism called clotting of blood in
which platelets plays a very vital role.
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Q: What are blood groups?
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A: Every individual has two types of blood groups. The first is called the ABO -
grouping and the second type is called Rh - grouping. In the ABO - group there
are four categories namely A Group, B Group, O Group and AB Group. In the Rh -
Group either the individual is Rh-positive, or Rh-negative. Rh is a factor
called as Rhesus factor that has come to us from Rhesus monkeys. Thus each and
very human being will fall in one of the following groups. A positive or A
negative B positive or B negative O positive or O negative AB positive or AB
negative There are also some sub groups as well as a few other classifications.
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Q: How Blood is stored?
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Blood is stored in a special refrigerator where temperature is constantly kept
between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius Are the blood components available any time of
the day ? Blood components are issued 24 hours a day subject to availability of
compatible units.
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Q: Why do you give coffee after blood donation ? Why not juice or tea ?
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The main purpose of giving refreshments is to keep the blood donor under
observation for about 10 minutes after blood donation. Adverse donor reactions
can be taken care of if the donor is under observation. With hot coffee and
biscuits donors stay for 10 minutes.
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Q: Why can't these tests be carried out before blood donation ?
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We do not carry out tests on persons, our tests are carried out on blood bags.
This becomes necessary to avoid "cheating" by prospective blood donors
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Q: Why is A group not given B group blood?
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A: This is due to the reason that, the blood of A Group people contains anti - B
antibod ies. In B group people there are anti - An antibodies. If we give A
group blood to a B group patient, it is bound to be incompatible and will result
in serious consequences
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Q: Are there any other benefits of blood donation?
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A: Yes, blood donation is a noble, selfless service! It gives the donor a
feeling of joy and contentment. Also this is an expression of love for Mankind,
as blood knows no caste, colour, creed, religion or race, country, continent or
sex.
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Q: The scale shows 450 gms but you say only 350 ml blood is collected. Why?
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The bag in which blood is collected contains a solution which prevents blood
from clotting. The total weight of the bag, before blood collection, is about 80
Gms. Besides, blood being heavier than water, the weight of 350 ml blood is
about 370 Gms. The total weight of the bag, after blood collection is, thus, 450
Gms.
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Q: Who is a healthy donor?
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Any person within the age group of 18 - 60 years with a body weight as minimum
45 kgs, and having hemoglobin content as minimum 12.5 gm%.
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Q:How often can one donate blood ?
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A healthy individual ( male or female ) can donate blood once in 90 days subject
to an acceptable level of pre - donation Hemoglobin concentration. Please
contact keralabloodbank for other criteria.
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Q: What is the composition of blood?
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Blood contains mainly a fluid called plasma in which are suspended cellular
elements. Three types of cells - Red Blood Cells or RBC's, White Blood Cells or
WBC's and tiny platelets form the cellular element.
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Q: How can I save four lives ?
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The blood you donate is split into four components Red Blood Cells, Platelets,
Plasma and Cryoprecipitate.
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Q: What is the shelf life of various components ?
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RBCs can be stored up to 42 days at 2 - 6 C, Platelets for 5 days at 20 - 24 C
with constant agitation and Plasma for one year at less than - 30 C. When stored
as whole blood , the clotting factors in the plasma lose their efficacy in 4
hours and the platelets lose their function after 24 hours. We actively
discourage the use of whole blood in order to prevent wastage of these blood
components.
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Q: How do you store blood ?
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Blood is stored in a special refrigerator where temperature is constantly kept
between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius.
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Q: How long does the donation take?
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The procedure is done by skilled, specially trained technicians and takes three
to eight minutes. However, from start to finish (filling form, post donation
rest etc) the entire process should take upwards of 35 minutes.
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Q: Will we get a report of the results of these tests ?
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Unfortunately, we can not issue reports. Firstly, because our tests are done for
the purpose of screening and not for diagnosing a disease. Secondly, the tests
employed by blood banks are not "fool-proof". We often get "false positive"
results. When that happens, we have to discard the donated unit. However, if we
report this, the blood donor may be falsely alarmed. There are reports of
persons who have committed suicides after being reported "HIV-Positive". We do
not want to cause such reactions mainly because of the occurrence of
"false-positive" results.
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Q. How is the compatibility test done between the blood of donor and recipient?
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It is often assumed that if the donor and recipient belong to the same blood
group their blood will be compatible. But in reality it is not so. Apart for A,
B, and O group antigens there are many other blood group antigens on the Red
cell surface of every human being. Under normal circumstances a full panel
cross-match is done using GEL technology before every unit is released for
transfusion. Only in the event of emergencies and if the consultant orders blood
component without full panel cross-match, the same is issued with only ABOD
compatibility testing.
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Q. Why do you charge for blood bags when you get blood free from donors ?
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The charges collected are not for the commodity known as "blood bag". They are
charges for the service which includes the cost of the blood collection bags,
expenses for testing of donated blood, expenses for separation of blood
components, storage of blood and components, pre- transfusion tests on
recipient's blood and overhead expenses of the blood banks.
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Q: How is blood safety ensured ?
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Blood transfusion can never be 100 % safe. What is safe today may not be safe as
knowledge improves. Examples for this is the new knowledge on Hepatitis B Virus
and HIV Virus. However, Blood Banks are expected to ensure the safety by testing
the donor blood for diseases known to be transmitted at that point of time.
Currently law in India requires testing of each unit of donated blood ( not the
donor prior to donation ) for Hepatitis B ( HBsAg ), HIV (Antibody Test) VDRL,
and Malaria.
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Q: Do you use all disposable equipment ?
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YES.
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Q: Does a donor need to rest after donating blood?
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Yes. The donor needs rest, preferably lying down, so that the amount of blood
that has been donated soon gets poured into the circulation from the body pools
in a natural way. The donor should take it easy for about 15 - 20 minutes.
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Q: Why do you use different types of bags for blood collection ?
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This depends upon what components we are going to prepare out of your donated
blood. This in turn, depends upon our stock position of various components and
also on requirements by patients. A "single bag" is used when the donated blood
is going to be used as "whole blood". We use a "double bag" to prepare one unit
of "Packed Cells" and one unit of "Fresh-Frozen Plasma" from a single donation.
"Triple bags" are used to make an additional unit of "Platelet Concentrate from
the same donation. "Penta bags" are used to make small aliquots for use in
babies.
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Q: Why is only a component of the blood used and not the whole blood ?
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Over the last decade, blood transfusion has been made safer by transfusing only
the needed component of the blood to the patients. For example, RBCs for those
who are anaemic and those undergoing surgery, Platelets for children and adults
whose platelet count is low due to disease or medication they received and
Plasma for those with burn injuries or bleeding problems. Apart from providing
the right component, this approach helps in optimal use of available blood.
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Q: What is the importance of knowing the blood groups?
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For all practical and routine purposes, it is ideal to transfuse to the patient
the same group of blood which he belongs to. It is only under very dire
emergency that we take O group as universal donor and AB groups as universal
recipient. Under no circumstances O group can get any other blood except O.
Similarly A group patient cannot be given B group blood and vice versa.
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