Hyderabad-based blood bank seeks ‘Kamma Caste’ O+ donors, receives flak on Twitter
Hyderabad, Aug 20: Twitterati seethes with anger over tweet from a Hyderabad-based group, who was looking for donors belonging to a specific dominant caste. It prompted a debate on caste-based discrimination, a social evil that refuses to vanish.
Posted by @BloodDonorsIn with #Hyderabad, it sought O+ blood for a 3-year-old child at a corporate hospital in Madhapur.
On the face of it, nothing seems odd. But what was extremely wrong to which people responded with indignation was the four opening words of this terse appeal. The tweet started with ‘ONLY Kamma Caste Donors’, referring to the fact that the suffering child belonged to the dominant community in Telugu-speaking States.
#Hyderabad ONLY Kamma Caste Donors, O+ ve blood needed at Max Cure Hospital. 3 yr old CHILD. Pls call 8063266677. Aug 19. Via ShekarNews
— Blood+ (@bloodplusapp) August 18, 2016
Most of the social media users denounced the demand. The group was quick to delete the tweet and even issued an apology tweet, saying that it received the tweet from an unknown person and put it up without verifying it.
Max Cure Hospital authorities confirmed that the same person had contacted the hospital for an emergency and never mentioned about ‘Kamma’ caste in particular.
The group manager of Blood Plus called this as an “accident”.
Our group is neutral to religious, caste, political divisions. I trusted requests that came in, and speed is key – safeguards from now on.
— Blood+ (@bloodplusapp) August 19, 2016
@bloodplusapp it’s a shame you propagate this message. Blood is blood for God’s sake! #depressing #casteSystem
— Shafi F1 (@Shafianin) August 19, 2016
