Maharashtra government hospitals to provide blood free of cost from December 12

Blood banks across Mumbai are facing shortage of blood owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Maharashtra Health Department has announced that blood will be provided free of cost to all patients receiving treatment at state-run hospitals starting December 12.

The announcement on the availability of free blood at all state-run hospitals was first made by Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on December 10.

He had taken to Twitter to urge people to donate their blood. He wrote: “Against the backdrop of blood scarcity in the state, I and MP Supriyatai Sule at Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan today appealed the citizens to donate their blood.”

Tope announced a blood donation drive will be held in the state from December 13 to 20 to celebrate Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar’s birthday, which falls on December 12. He said: “We are launching a week-long (blood donation) camp in Maharashtra” and added “it is expected people will donate blood at least twice a year”.

Maharashtra continues to the worst affected state by the coronavirus pandemic and the blood banks in the state have been suffering due to a lack of donors for months.

There are 344 blood banks in Maharashtra, which reportedly have enough stock to last only a few more days. One of the primary reasons behind blood banks running dry is the coronavirus pandemic. People have been staying away from hospitals, health centres, and crowded places in general, fearing they would contract the deadly disease that has affected lakhs in the state.