Amnesia

I am not sure how I forgot to mention this but one of the days this past week we also visited the blood services center at Apollo Hospital Indraprastha---bfr visiting the truck center in the afternoon we visited Apollo in the morning. Dr. Raina who is our medical director for this program is also the director of that department at Apollo. He gave us a tour of the department and also explained what goes into collecting and processing blood.

Donors at one time used to be paid for giving blood but legislation sometime back stopped this practice. Those in need of blood nowadays either receive it from a family member or at times end up hiring someone to donate blood 'under the table'. The BIG problem w/this is that who hire someone are a higher risk of contracting something (e.g. HIV) because most likely this person will not report their true history to the doctor. Unfortunately at times it comes down to either receiving nothing or taking the chance of hiring someone. The practice of donating blood for money still exists in some remote villages etc and therefore the prevalence of one donating infected blood is much more likely there.

There was also a walk-through of the labs for testing (apparently it's okay to where open-toed shoes in labs here---even at the Apollo). Not sure how many are aware of NAT (Nucleic Acid Testing)...but Dr. Raina told us that while it is not mandated for all hospitals it is standard policy to test it at Apollo.

ASIDE: Apollo Indraprastha is a very upscale hospital---very hi-tech and primarily directed for the well-off. There is a government-directed ward where services are provided to those in need but aside from that it is designed to serve ultimately the creme de la creme. It is basically the complete opposite of St. Stephens which serves the very needy.

Our visit ended w/a delicous lunch at the Executive Lounge (I told u it's the other extreme of St. Stephens) compliments of Dr. Raina...all four of us knew we wld have never have made it into that Executive Lounge otherwise :):):)