Essar Foundation organized a blood donation camp at Essar CBM Raniganj, Durgapur office to support children affected by thalassemia on November 22, 2013. Thalassemia is a genetic disease that causes weakening and destruction of red blood cells due to a deficit in the formation of the protein hemoglobin which carries oxygen in red blood cells. Thalassemia can cause significant complications, including pneumonia, iron overload, bone deformities and cardiovascular illness. A thalassemia patient usually needs blood transfusions every 2-4 weeks to keep on living. Unfortunately, this costly disease is particularly common among poor people. Without regular blood transfusion, they would die within a few years.
It is estimated that at least 12 children are born with thalassemia every hour in the world. With over 490 million thalassemia carriers in the world, in the absence of a comprehensive thalassemia prevention program, children with thalassemia will continue to be born straining the medical, social and economic resources of many nations.
There was tremendous positive response to the blood donation camp organised by Essar Foundation to support children with thalassemia major who are undergoing regular blood transfusions at Durgapur Society of Prevention of Thalassemia and AIDS. Seventy four units of blood were donated by Essarites and other volunteers. Doctors and medical staff from Blood Bank Sub Divisional Hospital, Durgapur carried out the blood donation program.
