Keralite with rare Bombay blood group thaws the Gulf's frosty ties with Qatar!
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Doha: It just took a few ounces of Malayali blood for the Arab countries to lift the blockade imposed on Qatar! It was Nidheesh Raghunath who forced the Arab nations to put the diplomatic wrangles with Qatar on the back burner, at least for a while.
His very rare blood type, Bombay A+, was the game changer that helped in building ‘blood relations’, breaking all frontiers. Nidheesh, hailing from Payam in Kannur district, is working as a tour coordinator in Qatar. He is a member of the Kerala chapter of the Blood Donors Forum.
Turning point
Nidheesh’s visit to Bahrain two years ago was a turning point. Nidheesh arrived at the Hamad International Hospital in Bahrain to donate blood to a person suffering from renal failure. But the hospital authorities found something amiss in his blood samples, and further tests showed that he had the very rare blood type: Bombay Oh. Only two persons, including Nidheesh, have this blood group in Qatar.
Until this discovery, the Keralite knew he had A+ blood.
Overcoming rift in the Gulf
The Arab countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain, had severed ties with Qatar in December 2017 blaming it of destabilising the region with the help of Islamist groups. But Nidheesh overcame the challenges of blockade and went to Kuwait to save two lives. He donated blood to Mangaluru-native Vinitha Dayand Gowda, who had severe complications while giving birth to her baby.
Both the mother and the child were fighting for their lives at Adal Hospital in Kuwait as there was no blood with Bombay or Oh group in the bank. Though the frantic search for this very rare blood type ended with Nidheesh in Qatar, there were many hurdles in the way.
The blockade against Qatar and the clause that only people who had stayed in Kuwait for more than three years could donate blood were the main impediments to Nidheesh donating blood in Kuwait.
The restrictions on Qatar were briefly lifted after the diplomats went into a huddle to facilitate Nidheesh’s travel to Kuwait, which is in fact neutral over the Qatar embargo. The Kuwait Government also relaxed the norms on blood donation to help the mother and child.
The Hamad International Hospital stocks the blood of Nidheesh every six months. This buffer stock would be used if there is any medical emergency for Nidheesh, and would not be donated.
India call
When Nideesh visited his hometown in Kannur district to attend his sister Nimisha’s wedding, he got a call from the Blood Donors Forum that his rare blood was needed at Apollo Hospital in Chennai. Without any afterthought, Nidheesh packed his bags and left for Chennai to donate blood to Alamaelu Amma, who was in a critical condition.
What is Bombay Group?
Some people with A+ blood type are found to have the rarest Bombay A+ group, which won’t be having the A, B and AB antigens. The rare blood group will be having H antibody instead of H antigen found in common A+blood. The presence of H antibody can be detected only through exhaustive blood tests.
This rare blood group was discovered by Dr Y M Bhende in Bombay, now Mumbai, in 1952. Two in 10 lakh people have this blood type, and only 200 people have been identified with this very rare blood group in India.