Need blood? Gangolli website is just a click away

Gangulli:June.14: A few years ago, Governor HR Bharadwaj declared Gangolli, 52 km from Udupi, as voluntary blood donors’ village. Taking forward the reputation the Karvali Voluntary Blood Donors Association (KVBDA) of the village had launched a website– www.kvbda.org– with aim of creating a one-stop destination for patients in need of blood with contact details of blood donors across the state.

Today the website boast of details of over 2,000 blood donors. Divakar N Kharvi, founder of the association, said, “Because of some technical glitches we could not upload details of all voluntary blood donors. We will upload the details by the end of July,” he added.

The helpline number which was launched along with the website receives at least 80 calls from patients and hospitals in a month seeking blood. “Most of these calls are from Shimoga, Udupi and Davangere districts,” he added.

Gangolli village is home for over 2,500 people belonging to Kharvi community, who mainly depend on fishing for livelihood.

Since 2007 nearly 1,000 villagers of Gangoli have donated more than 2,000 blood units through donation camps.

Future plans

Divakar said soon a helpline centre exclusively for blood donation will be established in Gangolli. “Recently we launched a free ambulance service for the poor and needy people residing in and around Kundapur taluk,” he said.

“The villagers are also raising funds to set up a blood bank in Kundapur. At present, Kundapur does not have a single blood bank. If a hospital gives us space, we will establish a blood bank soon. We will also request the government to set up a blood bank in Kundapur.

Soon patients and their family members, who require blood units, can contact more than 2,000 blood donors by just logging on to the website of Karvali Voluntary Blood Donors Association (KVBDA) of Gangolli village situated 52 kms away from Udupi.

In view of helping the patients and hospitals KVBDA launched a website in January to upload contact details of blood donors, residing in different parts of the state.

The details include blood group, phone numbers and addresses of blood donors. But due to technical glitches KVBDA could not upload the details of many blood donors.