World Blood Donor Day 2020: Essential Facts of Blood Transfusion

Blood transfusion is a life-saving procedure for many patients. Today, on the occasion of World Blood Donor Day, let us take a look at a few essential facts of this procedure.

Your blood plays an important role in keeping you healthy and going. It carries oxygen and nutrients to different parts and organs of your body. But sometimes, because of some disease, medical procedure or trauma, you may lose a lot of blood. If you have certain medical conditions like thalassemia, your body may also not be making blood properly. Anemia, sickle cell disease, hemophilia or even cancer can make you severely anaemic. This is when you may require a blood transfusion. This is a life-saving procedure for many patients. Today, on the occasion of World Blood Donor Day, let us take a look at a few essential facts of this procedure.

Countries and organisations observe June 14 as World Blood Donor Day Every year. The aim of this day is to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood. According to the World Health Organisation, a blood service that gives patients access to safe blood and blood products in sufficient quantity is a key component of an effective health system. Ensuring safe and sufficient blood supplies requires the development of a nationally coordinated blood transfusion service based on voluntary non-remunerated blood donations. However, in many countries, blood services face the challenge of making sufficient blood available, while also ensuring its quality and safety. Today, on the occasion of World Blood Donor Day, let us see revisit the fact of blood transfusion. 

A Safe Procedure

Your blood has many components like red and white cells, plasma and platelets. When you hear the term ‘whole blood’, it means blood that has all these components. Sometimes, a patient needs whole blood transfusion and at other times a specific component is needed. If you need a blood transfusion, a doctor will test your blood to know your blood type. Then it will be matched with a donor blood. Once a match is found, it will be delivered to your body intravenously via a small needle in one of your veins. The entire procedures can take anything from 1 to 4 hours. A doctor will constantly monitor you during the entire period.

Complications Of Blood Transfusion

This is a safe procedure. Donated blood is tested carefully and then stored for later use. But sometimes, a recipient may experience a mild to severe reaction. You may also experience fever and heart or lung complications. Sometimes, the transfusion may cause the donated white blood cells to attack your body’s healthy tissues. If you need frequent transfusions due to some medical issue, you may suffer from health problems because you may be getting too much iron from frequent transfusions.

One very big risk of blood transfusion is that, if it is not tested properly, you may get an infectious disease like hepatitis B or C and even HIV. But now there are stringent rules in place to ensure that all donated blood is safe and come from healthy donors.

Types Of Blood Transfusions

Today, on the occasion of World Blood Donor Day, let us take a look at some common types of blood transfusions.

• You may need a red blood cell transfusion if you have anemia or an iron deficiency.
• You may need a platelet transfusion if your body doesn’t have enough of them. This happens due to cancer or cancer treatments and even dengue fever.
• You may need a plasma transfusion to replace proteins in your blood that help it clot. It is common in liver disease.