Dedicated to the job: Dr. Temsu at his ‘second home’, the district hospital’s blood bank on June 19. (Morung Photo)
Dimapur | June 19 : There was once a time in this part of the world when the term ‘Blood Bank’ was an alien concept, let alone blood component separation. Now, that is passé and it will not be long before, Nagaland has a fully functionally blood component separation unit. At present, the state has three licenced blood banks attached with the government district hospitals at Kohima, Mokokchung and Dimapur. Of the three, the blood bank at Dimapur deserves special mention. Infact, the figures speaks for itself.
Nagaland collected a total of 7000 units of blood from donors during the period 2010-11. Dimapur’s contribution to the figure was 60 percent with 4057 units. Compared to the 2007-08 figure of 2678 units, it has witnessed a steady increase of nearly two-folds by 2010-11. It is all thanks to the dedicated effort of Dr. Temsu (Pathologist), MO in charge of the district hospital’s blood bank and the charitable donors, who has rallied behind him. Their collective endeavour even led to the birth of Dimapur District Voluntary Blood Donors Association (DDVBDA), a first of its kind for Nagaland.
Meet the person behind this movement. A genteel person by demeanour, Dr. Temsu is dedication personified, who has given his heart, soul and his waking hours to the transformation of the district hospital’s blood bank. His commitment to his job was best summed up by a founding member of the DDVBDA, Vimeno Liegise. June 14 was the date when the DDVBDA alongwith the district hospital observed World Blood Donor Day. Chairing the programme Liegise thus, described Dr. Temsu: “There is rarely a government doctor who is so sincere in his job. Dr. Temsu is an exception… I’ve never seen a doctor so dedicated to his work.” Liegise, a social activist herself, is an ardent advocate of the association which is barely a year old, formed only in October of 2010.
True to the words, Dr. Temsu consented to a tête-à-tête with this reporter Sunday afternoon, June 19, at his office when most government servants would prefer a quiet day at home. “My aim is to turn this (read blood bank) into a self sufficient facility,” said Dr. Temsu of his vision objectively. “The going is tough, but our objective is clear.” The good news is that the eagerly awaited and much required blood component separator machine is expected by July. “If all goes according to plan”, he added. It will be another month before it goes fully functional.
Funded by National AIDS Control Society, already 40 percent of the equipments required for the blood component separation unit have arrived. According to the norms, to have such a facility, a blood bank need to collect 10, 000 units in a year, at the least. In the case of Nagaland, the entire state combined, the ceiling is yet to be breached. However, “seeing the necessity it is being provided,” said Dr. Temsu.
When the unit finally does go functional, a unit of blood can save three-four people depending on the emergency and the specific type of blood component required such as plasma, platelets, white blood cells etc.
Now, in the eighteenth year of his service, Dr. Temsu said that he spent the first 14 years and a half of his service life serving in the outposts. As a student, he said that his aim was to serve in the remote areas, which he did. The year 2006 was a momentous one, so to speak. He got posted as a Medical Officer at the district hospital, Dimapur. Here he got the chance to make use of his specialty, taking charge of the blood bank.
The year he joined, the unit was collecting between 1000-1500 units, he recalled.
Aiming to take it further, he started mobilizing support by visiting and motivating potential donors, particularly targeting the student community. He said the first two years was tough. “When I started out, hardly two-three colleges involved”, he said of the colleges which were voluntarily donating. He specially mentioned the National Service Scheme and the Red Ribbon Club, who made it possible to penetrate the colleges for the noble cause.
Why only colleges? To this he surmised that it may become a lifetime investment. A student motivated today will carry that motivation and enthusiasm to donate even well into his/her working life, he said. During the first two years, he said that he visited almost all the colleges in the district. The spark that led to the eventual birth of the DDVBDA was a group of businessman, who started making visits to the hospital volunteering to donate, he said. Gradually, more people got involved and it is paying off now, as people are no longer needed to be asked to volunteer. “The idea was to bring all the benefactors under one umbrella.”
The DDVBDA have today the support of 18 partners in the shape of clubs, church members, civil society and colleges. He is optimistic; this number will grow even bigger. Despite, he maintained that it is only beginning to take shape. “When we have these supporters, how will we not succeed”, he said of the volunteer donors. “The beneficiary will ultimately be the patients in need.” Of membership to the DDVBDA, he said: “Once you donate blood, you automatically become a member of the DDVBDA, unless you decline.”
He is also grateful to the military units here, who have willingly come forward whenever called. Aside from increasing the collection of blood units to 5000 for the year, his other aim is to screen 10, 000 blood groups under the age of 18 (school students). The aim is to motivate them, who can become potential donors in future, he held.
“To make available blood free of cost is our aim,” he said. He though added that the problem of ‘demand-supply gap’ is always there. To bridge this gap, the blood bank requires any beneficiary to replace the number of units taken from any other blood group. However, it is not mandatory. There is no specific timeframe to replace, the units availed as well. He added that it does get replaced by the beneficiaries, if not all the time.
“To sustain the blood bank, we’ve to do this.” The purpose of this policy is to motivate the beneficiaries, in the hope that they will in turn motivate others to come forward. “The sole aim is to motivate… the more stock there is, the easier it’ll be for the bank to give away” without any fear of the stock running out, he reasoned.
This will be done away with once; the demand-supply gap is met. And this can be realized only through the unwavering support of the donors. He also downplayed the apprehension among people that the blood bank gives away selectively. There is also no point in stocking them for an extended period of time given that the shelf life of a unit of blood is 35 days, he explained.
Nagaland collected a total of 7000 units of blood from donors during the period 2010-11. Dimapur’s contribution to the figure was 60 percent with 4057 units. Compared to the 2007-08 figure of 2678 units, it has witnessed a steady increase of nearly two-folds by 2010-11. It is all thanks to the dedicated effort of Dr. Temsu (Pathologist), MO in charge of the district hospital’s blood bank and the charitable donors, who has rallied behind him. Their collective endeavour even led to the birth of Dimapur District Voluntary Blood Donors Association (DDVBDA), a first of its kind for Nagaland.
Meet the person behind this movement. A genteel person by demeanour, Dr. Temsu is dedication personified, who has given his heart, soul and his waking hours to the transformation of the district hospital’s blood bank. His commitment to his job was best summed up by a founding member of the DDVBDA, Vimeno Liegise. June 14 was the date when the DDVBDA alongwith the district hospital observed World Blood Donor Day. Chairing the programme Liegise thus, described Dr. Temsu: “There is rarely a government doctor who is so sincere in his job. Dr. Temsu is an exception… I’ve never seen a doctor so dedicated to his work.” Liegise, a social activist herself, is an ardent advocate of the association which is barely a year old, formed only in October of 2010.
True to the words, Dr. Temsu consented to a tête-à-tête with this reporter Sunday afternoon, June 19, at his office when most government servants would prefer a quiet day at home. “My aim is to turn this (read blood bank) into a self sufficient facility,” said Dr. Temsu of his vision objectively. “The going is tough, but our objective is clear.” The good news is that the eagerly awaited and much required blood component separator machine is expected by July. “If all goes according to plan”, he added. It will be another month before it goes fully functional.
Funded by National AIDS Control Society, already 40 percent of the equipments required for the blood component separation unit have arrived. According to the norms, to have such a facility, a blood bank need to collect 10, 000 units in a year, at the least. In the case of Nagaland, the entire state combined, the ceiling is yet to be breached. However, “seeing the necessity it is being provided,” said Dr. Temsu.
When the unit finally does go functional, a unit of blood can save three-four people depending on the emergency and the specific type of blood component required such as plasma, platelets, white blood cells etc.
Now, in the eighteenth year of his service, Dr. Temsu said that he spent the first 14 years and a half of his service life serving in the outposts. As a student, he said that his aim was to serve in the remote areas, which he did. The year 2006 was a momentous one, so to speak. He got posted as a Medical Officer at the district hospital, Dimapur. Here he got the chance to make use of his specialty, taking charge of the blood bank.
The year he joined, the unit was collecting between 1000-1500 units, he recalled.
Aiming to take it further, he started mobilizing support by visiting and motivating potential donors, particularly targeting the student community. He said the first two years was tough. “When I started out, hardly two-three colleges involved”, he said of the colleges which were voluntarily donating. He specially mentioned the National Service Scheme and the Red Ribbon Club, who made it possible to penetrate the colleges for the noble cause.
Why only colleges? To this he surmised that it may become a lifetime investment. A student motivated today will carry that motivation and enthusiasm to donate even well into his/her working life, he said. During the first two years, he said that he visited almost all the colleges in the district. The spark that led to the eventual birth of the DDVBDA was a group of businessman, who started making visits to the hospital volunteering to donate, he said. Gradually, more people got involved and it is paying off now, as people are no longer needed to be asked to volunteer. “The idea was to bring all the benefactors under one umbrella.”
The DDVBDA have today the support of 18 partners in the shape of clubs, church members, civil society and colleges. He is optimistic; this number will grow even bigger. Despite, he maintained that it is only beginning to take shape. “When we have these supporters, how will we not succeed”, he said of the volunteer donors. “The beneficiary will ultimately be the patients in need.” Of membership to the DDVBDA, he said: “Once you donate blood, you automatically become a member of the DDVBDA, unless you decline.”
He is also grateful to the military units here, who have willingly come forward whenever called. Aside from increasing the collection of blood units to 5000 for the year, his other aim is to screen 10, 000 blood groups under the age of 18 (school students). The aim is to motivate them, who can become potential donors in future, he held.
“To make available blood free of cost is our aim,” he said. He though added that the problem of ‘demand-supply gap’ is always there. To bridge this gap, the blood bank requires any beneficiary to replace the number of units taken from any other blood group. However, it is not mandatory. There is no specific timeframe to replace, the units availed as well. He added that it does get replaced by the beneficiaries, if not all the time.
“To sustain the blood bank, we’ve to do this.” The purpose of this policy is to motivate the beneficiaries, in the hope that they will in turn motivate others to come forward. “The sole aim is to motivate… the more stock there is, the easier it’ll be for the bank to give away” without any fear of the stock running out, he reasoned.
This will be done away with once; the demand-supply gap is met. And this can be realized only through the unwavering support of the donors. He also downplayed the apprehension among people that the blood bank gives away selectively. There is also no point in stocking them for an extended period of time given that the shelf life of a unit of blood is 35 days, he explained.
