Fortis Hospital Mulund Increases Voluntary Donations with Facebook’s Blood Donations Feature

“Traditionally most of our collection is replacement, as a hospital-based private blood bank. To help achieve the National AIDS Control Organisation’s goal of moving towards 100% voluntary blood donation, we turned to Facebook’s Blood Donations feature for welcome assistance. It allows us to tap into donors we didn’t have access to before.”
~ Dr. Lalit Dhantole, Consultant/Head Transfusion Medicine, Fortis Hospitals, Mulund, Mumbai

Mission

As part of the largest group of hospitals in India for public health, Fortis Mulund Blood Bank’s mission is to enhance the health and well-being of its patients by providing safe, high-quality blood products and services to those in need.

Key Takeaway

“By promoting the blood bank through Facebook’s Blood Donation feature we have raised awareness and increased the number of people who voluntarily walk in and donate which helps Fortis Mulund achieve its goal of 100% voluntary blood donation.”
~ Dr. Lalit Dhantole, Consultant/Head Transfusion Medicine, Fortis Hospitals, Mulund, Mumbai

Solution Statement

There is often an urgency to blood donation requests, particularly in the instance of emergency cases. Facebook is used primarily when there is an inventory requirement for emergency requests for specific types of blood.

“Even now that our database has grown, we do see that there is a broader reach and faster response to our posts and requests on Facebook. Donors are purely voluntary and we do see the potential for donor blood being deferred due to safety issues going down as well.”
~ Dr. Lalit Dhantole, Consultant/Head Transfusion Medicine, Fortis Hospitals, Mulund, Mumbai

Impact

“Facebook’s Blood Donations feature is easy to use and its audience reach is quite high. Fortis Mulund Blood Bank is able to reach donors who have previously expressed a willingness to donate. Our efforts on Facebook drove 68% of our voluntary walk-in blood donors.”
~ Dr. Lalit Dhantole, Consultant/Head Transfusion Medicine, Fortis Hospitals, Mulund, Mumbai

Goal

Private blood banks often find it more difficult to recruit voluntary blood donors and it is a common practice to ask the patient’s family to bring in donors. Fortis Mulund needed the right avenues to start recruiting voluntary blood donors. As the first NABH accredited blood bank in India, Fortis Mulund Blood Bank is seeing impact with Facebook’s Blood Donation feature.