A District Level function was observed to mark world blood donor day 2009 at Rotary Bhavan Palampur to honour thirty five leading blood donors and organisations working for this noble cause. Speaking on the occasion, Dr V Mahajan Blood Bank Officer stated that millions of people around the world owe their lives to individuals they will never meet – people who donate their blood to help others. But millions more still can’t get safe blood when they need it.
Dr RK Sood District AIDS Project Officer Kangra told that World Blood Donor Day, celebrated on June 14 every year, provides a unique opportunity to thank those very special people that help and to raise awareness about the need for more support. The June date was selected as it is the anniversary of the birth of Karl Landsteiner, the Nobel Prize winner who discovered the ABO blood group system and made the science of blood transfusion possible.
President of the Blood bank society told that safe blood saves millions of lives each year. There is no substitute for blood and blood components, so without blood many patients would die. On World Blood Donor Day we celebrate the blood donors, who save millions of lives and bring relief to patients with cancer, malaria, blood diseases and a number of other diseases. The safest blood donors are voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors from low-risk populations. Despite this, family/replacement and paid donors, which are associated with a significantly higher prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) including HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, Syphilis, still provide more than 50% of the blood collected in developing countries. The emergence of HIV in the 1980s highlighted the importance of ensuring the safety, as well as the adequacy, of national blood supplies.
Dr Anil Mahajan CMO Kangra addressing the gathering, told that this year the theme for the World Blood Donor Day is Achieving 100 percent non-remunerated donation of blood and blood components. However, only 57 countries have achieved this goal. Many simply do not know about the need for blood. There is a common blood groups are easily available but it is an irony that the common groups are the ones which are most commonly needed. The lifesaving message is that any healthy person from the age of 18-60 can be donor. He added that people are afraid to donate blood due to fears of weakness, or ignorance about the need of blood, consequently there is always a shortage of blood, especially in developing countries. Of the 81 million units of blood are collected globally every year, only 45% are donated in developing and transitional countries where more than 80% of the world’s population lives.
Dr Vinay Mahajan told that the focus of World Blood Donor Day is commitment:
* From healthy individuals to become regular, voluntary, unpaid blood donors
* From existing voluntary, unpaid donors to continue to donate regularly.
The act of blood donation is unique, and blood donors are special people. Blood donors come from all walks of life and all parts of the world, and every year they give more than 81 million blood donations. We may all one day need treatment by blood, but only one percent of the world’s population gives blood. So we need many more donors, if all patients shall be guaranteed proper treatment with safe blood. Honouring the top 35 donors, he said that we salute these everyday heroes, who want to help their fellow human beings and encourage healthy friends and family members to become donors.
A blood donation camp was held at Baijnath by Social Organisation Sankalp in which over thirty people donated blood.
