Saving lives: How 'Khoon' ensures timely blood supply, prevents wastage

Business Standard on a Bengaluru-based organisation that is creating a database of voluntary blood donors to ensure timely supply and prevent wastage

The Lancet Haematology study, published in November 2019, points out that India tops the chart when it comes to unmet blood needs and that the country needs to rethink its estimation of how much blood it needs in order to match its demands. The study says, globally, India is battling a shortfall of 41 million units, and demand outstrips supply by 400 per cent; the overall global shortfall is 100 million units.

Thousands of lives each year is lost due to shortage of blood. Bengaluru-based Chethan Gowda faced a similar loss when his teacher died due to shortage of blood. He realised there was a lack of channel connecting the donors to the recipients and awareness around blood donation needed to be spread among youngsters. Chethan’s first-hand encounter with blood crisis prompted him to start Khoon — an NGO which aims to resolve blood shortage in India and motivates more people to donate blood — in 2016.

Speaking to Business Standard, he says, “A lack of awareness, incorrect information around blood donation in India are some of the main reasons behind us falling short of 3 million units of blood required annually. Even if 1-2 per cent youngsters begin donating blood regularly, we can bridge this gap.”

How did Khoon begin its journey?

“It all began with a blood donation camp, but the USP of this blood donation camp was its theme setting,” says Chethan, who is now studying for a B.Tech in mechanical engineering. The camp tried to keep the mood light with a musical concert. The turnout was above expectation and they managed to collect quite a lot of blood. “We figured this way we could attract more young people to these blood donation drives and we organised several such theme-based camps since 2016. In four years, the NGO has collected over 87,000 signatories from all over India. Now we conduct six donation camps annually,” he says.

Blood donation camp

The initiative has successfully built a strong database of over 4,000 donors in Bengaluru. The organisation spread its wings to the Northeast in 2017, where a 24X7 blood helpline has been established. In 2018, Khoon forayed in Chhattisgarh’s Bhilai. Blood donation camps and awareness programmes were arranged in Bhilai to bust myths around blood donation.  

In 2019, Khoon stepped up its game in research and development and its area of impact was North Karnataka. It partnered with Facebook to implement the tool — Facebook for blood donation — across all the 214 blood banks in Karnataka. The organisation is now mentoring blood bank technicians on using this Facebook tool towards creating a larger community of donors. It has also partnered with AIDS prevention society to come up with concepts to cut down wastage of blood during medical procedures such as transfusion. Khoon has come up with 100 ml and 50 ml blood sachets for blood transfusion in new-born babies who need less blood than adults.

What challenges does Khoon face? Chethan says, “Blood donation as an ecosystem needs more support. Blood donation, preserving blood and prevention of wastage — all of these needs training, mentorship and funding.” He further says, “We can eradicate shortage of blood in the country only if youngsters come up, donate and mobilise others too.”

Khoon is a 44-member strong team now and it has over 350 registered volunteers.

The road ahead

“Soon we want to create a similar network of donors for pets, specially cats and dogs. As of now, there are only two Facebook groups working for this cause and many pets die due to the want of blood. The plan is in process and this project will be done in collaboration with veterinary hospitals,” Chethan says. Khoon also looks at creating training modules for blood bank technicians in regional languages in times to come.