Kolkata, Oct. 9 -- Rare units of the Bombay blood group were flown from Pune to Kolkata to help save the life of a 71-year-old patient undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Jadavpur.
Saiful Sardar, a resident of Canning in South 24-Parganas, required an urgent blood transfusion. However, doctors faced difficulties arranging blood because of the rarity of his blood group.
Donor Suraj played a crucial role in helping save Sardar's life by donating blood. The rare Bombay blood group units were also brought from Pune in Maharashtra to Kolkata to facilitate the transfusion.
A private organisation played a pivotal role in arranging the blood from the donor in Pune. After being brought to Kolkata, the rare blood units were examined in the city's hospitals to check whether the elements were there. They were transported from Pune in compliance with standard protocols, including temperature control.
A couple of years ago, two patients with Bombay O-negative blood group were detected in Birbhum and blood was transfused from one patient to another. An elderly patient was detected with Bombay O who required transfusion.
Bombay blood group (h/h or hh phenotype) is an extremely rare blood type found in roughly 4 per million people globally and about 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 25,000 individuals in India. People with this blood group lack the H antigen and cannot receive blood from standard ABO types (including O-negative or O-positive); they can only receive blood from another Bombay blood group donor.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.