Someone Wanted O+ Blood For A 3-Year-Old Child, But Only From Kamma Caste Donors

A tweet by a Hyderabad based volunteer group calling for O+ blood donors for a 3-year-old kid created quite the outrage on Twitter.

BCCL/ Representative Image

This, because the tweet mentioned "ONLY Kamma Caste Donors". Kamma is a dominant upper caste in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.

#Hyderabad ONLY Kamma Caste Donors, O+ ve blood needed at Max Cure Hospital. 3 yr old CHILD. Pls call 8063266677. Aug 19. Via ShekarNews

¡ª Blood+ (@bloodplusapp) August 18, 2016

Many were quick to point out the obvious casteism in the request.

@bloodplusapp i am O+ve and in Hyderabad. Buy will NOT give blood to these religious retards.

¡ª aBBi (@SolidFumes) August 19, 2016

@bloodplusapp If not human, animal blood will also do. Any colour blood will do. But should be Kamma caste blood only.

¡ª Satish P (@Sat_ire) August 19, 2016

@bloodplusapp it's a shame you propagate this message. Blood is blood for God's sake! #depressing #casteSystem

¡ª Shafi F1 (@Shafianin) August 19, 2016

@bloodplusapp Only "Kamma Caste Donors" Seriously? Colour of blood is different?

¡ª Ravindra (@ravirao83) August 19, 2016

@bloodplusapp SHAME. Double Shame when its coming from a Handle which guides people for Donating Blood.

¡ª Sudhir Viyas D (@ViyasD) August 19, 2016

@bloodplusapp why are you even promoting this caste based request. Could you not have justmentioned blood required without mentioning Caste?

¡ª SN (@ShalzNair) August 19, 2016

The hospital also distanced itself from the controversy.

@punitjuneja Pls note this post has been posted by @ShekarNews @bloodplusapp. We @MaxcureHospital doesn't own responsibility for this post.

¡ª MaxCure Hospitals (@MaxCureHospital) August 19, 2016

The Twitter handle which first put in the request was found deactivated and the contact number provided was also fake.

According to Hindustan Times, some person had contacted the hospital for emergency blood requirement for a child on Thursday, but did not make any reference to the caste. But the child was not admitted in the hospital.

¡°It is ridiculous that there are persons who seek blood donation based on caste affiliation. It is not only inhuman, but also dangerous,¡±Max Cure Hospitals spokesperson Sree Lakshmi said.

The Twitter handle Blood+ later clarified that it was a fake request and apologised.

We are sorry if you were offended by an earlier tweet. We want to help others and are repeating info we get. We will now take greater care.

¡ª Blood+ (@bloodplusapp) August 18, 2016

Thank you for bringing the issue to our attention. We have since deleted it and would advise no further retweets. It was an accident.

¡ª Blood+ (@bloodplusapp) August 18, 2016

There was a tweet sent out yesterday that mentioned caste, which was obviously wrong. This was human error and not deliberate. My apologies

¡ª Blood+ (@bloodplusapp) August 19, 2016

Our group is neutral to religious, caste, political divisions. I trusted requests that came in, and speed is key - safeguards from now on.

¡ª Blood+ (@bloodplusapp) August 19, 2016