4 Mumbaikars donate rare blood type to save life of Dhaka man

Local Press Co 5-point Snippet

1. Four Mumbaikars have come to the rescue of a Dhaka citizen whose life saving surgery was dependant on acquiring a rare blood type.

2. The victim, Mohammed Kamruzzaman, had met with an accident in Dhaka on May 21 and was immediately rushed to the local Apollo Hospital for treatment. Mohammed required surgery to treat the multiple fractures, but doctors were in a fix after they discovered that he had a rare blood group which wasn’t readily available in blood banks across the country.

3. After failing to secure the rare ‘Bombay blood group’, the victim’s family started searching for donors or blood banks in other countries. Finally, their search led them to an city-based NGO Think Foundation who managed to help them secure the blood. Mohammed’s colleague Tuhinur Alam arrived in the city on Thursday to collect the blood donated by Mumbai-based Swapna Sawant, Krishnanand Kori, Mehul Bhelekar and Pravin Shinde.

4. While speaking to Times of India, Alam said, “We searched up and down the city (Dhaka) and called up an uncountable number of hospitals and blood banks, but most had never heard of this blood group. The hospital decided to test his family members and found his sister had the same group. But she was not fit to donate. Our employer, Arinoba Plastic Industries, facilitated this inter-country coordination after learning that Kamruzzaman was the main bread winner for the family and his ailing mother’s treatment was dependent on his earnings. In a way, India is not saving just one life, but an entire family.”

5. The NGO managed to secure the permission from various authorities to allow for the export of blood from the country. Alam took a flight to Dhaka on Saturday and is carrying the blood units in a special plastic box with ice gel packs. Doctors in Dhaka will perform the surgery as soon as the blood is handed over to the hospital.

Inputs from Times of India