The health department has also set a target to increase the percentage of voluntary blood donation upto 90% by the end of the current financial year

JAIPUR, All the government–run blood banks in state will now be connected online it seems, after this past Tuesday, which will be observed as the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day. With this, the health department and blood bank officials will be able to check availability blood of any group at any particular blood bank.

A Rajasthan State Aids Control Society (RSACS) official said, "From October 1, the health department officials and government blood bank officials will have access to the online blood checking facility. While in the next phase, the general public will also be able to check the availability of blood online."

Moreover, the RSACS will also connect private blood banks online soon, the official claimed.

It is often seen that the patients' attendants have to run from one blood bank to another to find matching blood. But in the next phase, everybody would have access to this facility. Also. it would become easy for the attendants to get blood in emergency situations.

In Rajasthan, there are 88 licensed blood banks operating in different parts of the state. Among them, 44 blood banks are run by state government, four are run by Central government and 40 blood banks are operated by private organizations.

Apart from connecting the government–run blood banks online, the health department has set a target to increase the percentage of voluntary blood donation upto 90% by the end of the current financial year.

"There are two kinds of blood donation – voluntary and replacement. In 2011–12, nearly 5.24 lakh units of blood was collected, 70% out of which was voluntarily donated. In 2012–13, voluntary donation increased to 79.29% for a total of 5.21 lakh units of blood," he said.

Meanwhile, in the current financial year, the voluntary blood donation in the state is 77.52% for a total of 2.15 lakh units of blood.

"The percentage of voluntary blood donation increases after October. The health department has now directed all the collectors to organize blood donation camps in their respective districts along with other activities to increase the percentage of voluntary blood donation," the official said.