Facebook, which launched a first-in-India healthcare initiative to pool up blood donors, says the response for the call has been tremendous.
“Over 60 lakh users have registered their names on the special window that we launched in October 2017,” Hema Budaraju, Product Manager (Health) at Facebook, told BusinessLine. After seeing good response to the initiative in India, the firm is planning to replicate it in Bangladesh.
She was in Hyderabad in connection with the annual blood donation drive organised by the NTR Trust here to mark the death anniversary of Telugu Desam founder NT Rama Rao. She said the firm has noticed a significant number of posts on the social media platform, with users seeking blood from their friends, relatives and other followers. “We then studied the challenge and discussed it with the ecosystem partners such as hospitals, the needy and the donors. We found that there is not enough supply of safe blood,” she said.
People are expected to ask around for the blood for their kin who are in urgent need of blood. “Our aim is to make it easier for people to donate. We let them know about the requirement by sending notifications,” she said.
The feature allows hospitals, blood banks and non-governmental organisations to reach out to the donors. “By raising awareness and growing the number of blood donors in India, we want to make it easier for people and organisations to give and receive blood,” she said.