The Minister of Health and Family Welfare has launched the Indian Red Cross Society’s (ICRS) eBloodServices mobile application.
Citizens can request various blood components through the app from the IRCS National Headquarters in Delhi.
They can track the status of their request from within the app. It also provides facilities to search for bloodstock and camps at various IRCS blood banks.
Users can search for IRCS bloodstock by selecting a state or district. It also enables users to call, send an email or navigate to the selected blood bank.
The app was developed by the E-Raktkosh team of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) under the Digital India initiative.
According to a press release, the app will help people that require blood-related services regularly.
Through it, four units of blood can be requisitioned at a time and the blood bank will wait for as long as 12 hours for the person to collect it. The app makes it easy for those in need to request for blood units at IRCS NHQ, the Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan, said.
Once the request is placed through the app, the requisite units become visible to IRCS, NHQ blood bank in the E-Raktkosh dashboard and this allows assured delivery within the specified time.
This feature will make it easy for a patient to obtain blood. It is also straightforward to use and completely transparent.
The Minister lauded all the voluntary blood donors who have donated blood during the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. Red Cross has facilitated donation by voluntary blood donors by either providing transport or sending blood collection mobile vans for on-site blood donation.
Regular blood donation can prevent obesity, cardiac problems, and several other ailments.
All 89 IRCS blood banks and 1,100 branches across the country have collected more than 100,000 units of blood through in-house donations and from around 2,000 blood donation camps organised during the lockdown period.
Also, more than 38,000 voluntary blood donors registered with NHQ Blood Bank have been contacted and motivated to donate blood.
The Digital India mission was launched in 2015 and aims to digitally empower the country by deploying technologies into the public service ecosystem.
In May, the government launched a mobile application called Aarogya Setu.
It was developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and enables people to assess their health and the risk of catching COVID-19.
The government claimed that the app will calculate this based on interaction with others, using cutting-edge Bluetooth technology, algorithms, and artificial intelligence.
The user, after installing the Aarogya Setu app, is asked to answer a number of questions. In case some of the answers suggest COVID-19 symptoms, the information will be sent to a government server.
As OpenGov reported, the data will then help the government take effective steps and initiate the isolation procedure if necessary. It also alerts the user if they come in close proximity with a person who has tested positive.
The app is available on both Android and iOS. It is available in 11 languages.