Kolkata: Jeevan Shakti, the mobile app introduced by the state Health department to disseminate information about the availability of blood from various groups in different blood banks are allegedly not properly updated resulting in harassment of patients and their family members. A senior official of a state-run blood bank in the city said that the family members of the patients who come to the blood banks on the basis of the information provided by the mobile app fail to get the blood of the required group as the app does not show the real-time of the availability. For example, a family member of a patient comes to know from the app in the morning that the blood of a particular group is available in a blood bank. When the member reaches the blood bank, officials inform them that there is no so such unit available. It mainly occurs only because the mobile app is not updated from time to time. "Jeevan Shakti app is very handy for the patients and their family members who are looking for blood units of different groups. The family members get to know the availability of blood in various blood banks without physically visiting the places. "As a large number of patients and their family members depend on the app, it should be updated from time to time," a senior official of a blood bank said. Meanwhile, it may be mentioned here that the crisis of blood still prevails in the state due to an apparent apathy among the people to donate blood. This has led to a dip in blood donation camps in the state in the recent past and if the situation continues for a long a time, it might have an impact on the supply of blood to various blood banks. The donors are reluctant to turn up at the blood donation camps as a result, blood banks do not always have some of the negative blood groups. According to D Ashis, secretary of Medical Bank, the number of donors dipped since the government denied various prizes which they (donors) used to get earlier after donating their blood. "Every fifth person out of 1,000 in Bengal are blood donors. There is a demand of 15 lakh blood units in the state in a year but the supply remains at around 11 lakh units. As a result, the family members of the patients are often denied blood units at various blood banks," D Ashis said.

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