Help in their veins: 2 men with rare blood group come forward to save Vietnamese child

Two Mumbai residents with the rare Bombay blood group flew down thousands of km away to Hanoi in Vietnam to help a 28-day-old baby, who was critically ill.

The duo responded within 24 hours of receiving a distress message to help the newborn and landed in the Southeast Asian country without wasting time, officials said on Monday.

Though the blood of these two donors was not eventually used due to reactivity issues, they came in for fulsome praise from the baby's parents, hospital and the Indian embassy for coming forward for a noble cause.

Indians residing in Hanoi, including Indian embassy staffers and business community members, came together to arrange their e-visas, air tickets, blood tests and other paperwork in just 24 hours after receiving the message for help.

Speaking about the episode, Pravin Shinde, one of the two donors who had gone to Vietnam to donate the rare type blood, said he received a call from Vinay Shetty of Think Foundation, a non-governmental organization (NGO), around 12 pm on February 15.

Shinde said he was told a critically ill child admitted in a Hanoi hospital required the rare Bombay blood, a group to which he belonged, immediately. His blood related tests were conducted within an hour.

Under Vietnamese laws, transportation of blood from foreign nations is not allowed. Due to this policy restriction, Shinde and another city resident with the Bombay blood group, Ashish Nalwade, were asked to air dash to the Southeast Asian country.

Their photos and other information were collected in the next few hours and by 4.30 pm the same day, their e-visas and air tickets were ready, Shinde said.

The two Samaritans flew down to Vietnam and reached the Hanoi hospital where the child was admitted. The duo donated blood, but it was not used due to reactivity issues, which came as a huge disappointment for both of them.

Luckily, the hospital found a local person with the Bombay blood group and the baby was transfused with it, Shinde said.

The baby was doing well after the blood transfusion, he said.

Bombay blood group, said to be discovered in 1952, is rare in which there is the absence of H antigen and presence of anti-H antibodies. Patients carrying this blood can receive transfusion only from a person from within this group.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)