1st October 2016, New Delhi: Every year, 1st October, is celebrated as the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day. It was first celebrated on 1st of October in the year 1975 under the ages of the Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology.
Objectives
To make aware the people all over the country about the importance of the voluntary blood donation.
To successfully achieve the target of Voluntary Blood Donation to fulfill the urgent need of the needy patients.
To store the blood in stock in blood banks for any urgent and serious requirement.
To promote and emphasize the self-esteem of blood donors through a lot of thanks.
To motivate and encourage people who are not interested in donating blood even being a healthy person.
To stimulate people to donate blood voluntarily who are interested in donating blood only to their relatives or friends.
Dr. R. N. Makroo Director & Sr. Consultant Department of Transfusion Medicine informed that
there are a number of myths associated with blood donation that need to be busted for more people to come up and voluntarily donate blood. The youth is a powerful tool in this regard. It can be instrumental in dispelling myths and promoting safe donation habits.” There are 2760 licensed blood banks in the country collecting about 10 million units of blood annually. Although the percentage of voluntary blood donor is around 75%, but there is a need to convert one time voluntary donors to regular repeat voluntary donors.
Transfusing or donating blood or its components to the needy person has become very important part of the humanity in the modern health care system. It does not matter who is the blood donor or blood receiver, a donor can be a receiver in the future as well as a receiver can be a healthy donor in the nearest future. So donating blood without any expectation is of great humanity and a vital part in the life saving process.
The states like Tripura, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Maharashtra have good number of voluntary blood donors in the country. Tripura, a North Eastern State of the country, is considered as having the highest level of voluntary blood donor (93%) in India whereas Manipur is considered as lowest in the country.
As per the facts given by WHO, of the 112.5 million blood donations collected globally, approximately half of these are collected in the high-income countries, home to 19% of the world’s population. In low-income countries, up to 65% of blood transfusions are given to children under 5 years of age; whereas in high-income countries, the most frequently transfused patient group is over 65 years of age, accounting for up to 76% of all transfusions.
The blood donation rate in high-income countries is 33.1 donations per 1000 people; 11.7 donations in middle-income countries and 4.6 donations in low-income countries. An increase of 10.7 million blood donations from voluntary unpaid donors has been reported from 2008 to 2013. In total, 74 countries collect over 90% of their blood supply from voluntary unpaid blood donors; however, 72 countries collect more than 50% of their blood supply from family/replacement or paid donors. Only 43 of 175 reporting countries produce plasma-derived medicinal products (PDMP) through the fractionation of plasma collected in the country, whereas the majority of the other 132 countries import PDMP from abroad.
The Department of Transfusion Medicine, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, BLOOD 4 ALL, an NGO along with State Blood Transfusion Council and National AIDS Control Organization, organized an event on 1st October 2016, to commemorate this day and for creating awareness and to promote voluntary blood donation programme at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi. The event comprised the volunteers from regular repeat voluntary blood donors, voluntary blood organizations & blood bank officers, thalassemic children and families, promoting the cause of voluntary blood donation. Dancing and Singing performances were given by thalassemic children. A stage play on voluntary blood donation was also organized to motivate the crowd and highlight the importance of voluntary blood donation.
As responsible citizens of this country, all of us should take the responsibility of strengthening the blood donation drive so that our countrymen do not suffer from unavailability or poor quality of blood.