“I’ve been a resident of the city for many years. People know me around town, but none of them came forward when I asked for blood donations. The only response I got was: “I can’t donate because I’m fasting.

“They said it would cause them weakness. I argued that they could do it after iftar but that too wasn’t acceptable, because apparently, it would make the next day’s fast difficult.”

A few days ago, Malik Rizwan was desperately searching for a Good Samaritan to help him get a blood donation for his sister-in-law, who was having surgery.

Running from pillar to post in the hospital made Rizwan question the wisdom of scheduling a surgery in the month of Ramazan.

The story — fortunately — had a happy ending, as a blood bank official at the Polyclinic managed to get his hands on the required blood units needed for the operation of Rizwan’s bhabhi. But, it was a wakeup call for him that highlighted the troubles of patients and their caregivers in the holy month.

Rizwan said that many people think they will lose energy by a simple blood donation and refuse to help those desperately in need. He’s not the only one who has faced this problem though. There are many others like him who are forced at the end of the day to buy blood packs at blood banks.

Dr Sharif Astori, the man in charge of the Polyclinic blood bank, while speaking with Dawn, agreed that many people are afraid of donating blood in Ramazan.

“People should, however understand that donating blood is Sadqa-e-Jaria. The notion that you can’t while you are fasting is incorrect. It’s a common misconception as blood donations do not cause any harm or weakness, even when fasting.”

He further explained that the human body produces more blood than required. That blood can be donated, in fact it should be because most of the excess is wasted as extra blood cells are automatically destroyed by our bodies.

Dr Astori said that people must understand that while there are several benefits of donating blood, there are no known drawbacks. In fact, he suggested that every person donate blood three to four times a year so that there is enough for those who need it — such as accident victims or patients undergoing surgery like Rizwan’s bhabhi.

Any person between the ages of 18 and 50, who weighs more than 45kg can donate blood with no expected complications, he elaborated.

Professor Hassan Abbas Zaheer, the head of the Safe Blood Transfusion Programme (SBTP), while speaking with Dawn, said that considering Ramazan is being observed over the summer for the past few years, blood banks must make sure to improve their inventory management. He also said that the summer, along with Eid holidays is an especially dry spell for blood donations as most of the contributions come from students, who are usually on vacation at the time.

He said that 69,000 donations were collected last year, out of which about 30,000 were made at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).

“Currently, we depend mostly on family and friends of patients for donations. But, we can completely switch over to voluntary contributions if only 20,000 people donated blood four times a year. There is an ongoing project funded by the Germans that is helping us reach that goal,” he said.

Responding to a question, Dr Zaheer said that almost 40pc of blood collected every year is given to thalassemia patients — a genetic blood disorder that causes the body to produce an abnormal form of haemoglobin, which is the protein molecule in blood that carries oxygen. Patients usually require a unit of blood every 20 days.

“Every year around 3.5 million units of blood are donated in Pakistan. There are about 100,000 thalassemia patients and they take up almost 1.5m units of blood. To encourage people to donate blood we sought the help of Facebook, which has introduced a special feature for its users in Pakistan,” he said.

“There are around 40 million users of Facebook in the country. When logged on, they will see a popup window about blood donation. By next month, we will have a modified version of the application, which will not only prompt for blood donations, but also serve as a database allowing us to monitor regular donors — who may be contacted in emergencies.”

Dr Zaheer added that the SBTP — already managing 21 blood banks in the capital — was planning a new building for the programme in the city, ensuring people not only have a facility to make contributions in, but also to have the equipment for screening blood — reducing the spread of diseases.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2018