Trends of Blood Transfusion Services before and during COVID-19 Pandemic- A Retrospective Study from Maharashtra, India

Introduction: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected the usual number of blood donations as well as the component utilisation in routine use severely. Directions by government to maintain social distancing and avoidance of social gatherings resulted in lesser number of voluntary blood donation camps. This resulted in blood scarcity. Aim: To assess the impact on pattern of usage of blood components previously and during COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study, conducted in Department of Immunohaematology and Transfusion Medicine (Blood Centre) of a tertiary care hospital, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The study was carried out for a period of two years i.e., from April 2019 to March 2021. The study was divided into two phases. Phase I- April 2019 to March 2020, Phase II- April 2020 to March 2021. Data was collected retrospectively from the donor registers and camp reports. Blood components utilisation data was collected from issue registers. Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word were used to compile the data. Basic descriptive statistics and graphs were prepared using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Independent t-test was applied to assess the difference in mean and Standard Deviation (SD) between two phases. The p-value p