Social media users are sharing posts which claim that Central government has launched a scheme for requesting blood in India.
The claim: The posts claim that people can dial '104' for a 'Blood-on-call' service, which will ensure they get blood delivered to them within four hours within a 40 kilometer radius.
They add that each bottle of blood would be charged at Rs 450, while transportation costs would amount to Rs 100.
An archived version of this post can be seen here.
(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)
The Quint also received queries to verify this claim on its WhatsApp tipline.
(Archives of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here, here, and here.)
But...?: The claim has been on the internet since 2022 and is false.
While the 'blood-on-call' scheme was valid in Maharashtra until 2022, different states had different schemes linked to the number '104'.
How did we find out the truth?: We ran a keyword search using the term '104 blood on call' on Google.
This led us to a report by Times of India from 2014, which mentioned that one could call the number to request blood, specifically in Maharashtra.
It said that the call centre for the initiative was set up the city's Aundh Civil Hospital, which would connect potential recipients with blood banks in their district.
The ten-year-old article said that the service was available in Maharashtra.
(Source: TOI/Screenshot)
Another report from 2022 said that the Maharashtra government had discontinued to service in 2022 due to it being "financially unviable."
The Maharashtra State Blood Transfusion Council had confirmed the discontinuation of the service to The Quint in 2022, when we had first debunked this claim.
What about other states?: Our initial keyword search had showed us results for dialing '104' in different states, which had assigned the helpline number for various health-related purposes.
In Himachal Pradesh, the state's Department of Health & Family Welfare has made the number a helpline for health queries, where one could call for advice, for grievance against health officers, for help with addiction, among other things.
Similarly, Tamil Nadu used the number as a helpline for information related to health and healthcare delivery system, which people contacted for basic health information as well as complex issues like organ transplants.
The Karnataka government had set up '104' as a healthcare aid service called 'Arogya Sahayavani', providing "non-emergency medical advice" to callers. The number can still be contacted to know about the availability of blood types across blood banks in the state.
Like Karnataka, people in Jharkhand can also contact the helpline for non-emergency medical advice.
Government refutes claim: The Press Information Bureau (PIB), which carries clarifications and statements from the government and its agencies, shared a post on their X account on 5 November 2024 regarding the viral claim.
It called the claim "misleading," clarifying that the government "is not running any such scheme !! (sic)."
Conclusion: The Central government has not made '104' a helpline for a 'blood-on-call' service across India.
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