If there is one cause for which the techies are always willing to lend a hand for, then it’s voluntary blood donation (VBD). Over the past year or so, perhaps no individual or organisation within campus would have worked for so much for the cause than this bunch of techies under the aegis of Tejus. The charitable organisation, is primarily devoted to organising VBD camps at Technopark.
“The response from fellow techies has been phenomenal. In fact, since we began operations on November 30, 2012, Tejus has organised 19 VBD camps. All but two of the camps were held in Technopark and we were able to get 919 people to donate blood for three Government hospitals – namely, the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), the General Hospital (GH) and Sree Chithira Thirunal Hospital (SCT), in the city,” says Varghese V.J., a member of the group. One of Tejus’ biggest drives was one for the GH in July, organised in conjunction with Allianz, for which 82 techies donated blood. Another, also for the GH, got them 80 donations. “In addition, we were able to cater to 219 emergency calls for blood requirement within various hospitals in the city,” adds Varghese, an employee of Gemini Software Solutions.
Before forming the group, all the members had been individually involved in blood donation for the past several years, either by donating blood themselves or helping to secure blood for the needy. “We all met each other through blood donation activities. We were motivated by first hand experiences of the struggle to get blood for our loved ones who were hospitalised or after witnessing the desperate requirement for blood in the existing blood banks in the city. We realised that by working together we can bring about a more cohesive action on promoting VBD,” says Brijesh P.I., who also works at Gemini. “We are determined that no one should have to struggle to get blood, when there is so much potential for blood donation in the city, particularly within Technopark,” says Rahul B.S., an employee of RWDI. Rateesh Sahadevan, who works at VSSC, explains: “As M. Vasudevan, Senior Business Development Manager, Technopark, who was our guest of honour for our debut drive, rightly mentioned, there is a huge potential for VBD in Technopark what with its 45,000-strong workforce. That’s a potential 80,000 pints of blood a year! But that’s not too big a number when you consider that RCC itself requires about 25,000 pints of blood a year...”
The group say that they have realised the value of holding VBD camps on campus as opposed to the time and cost involved in ferrying donors to and fro from Technopark to the blood banks. “Every time we take people into the city, both we and the donors end up losing valuable productive hours. And each time we can take only a dozen or so people at most. Besides, blood banks in the city close by 12.30 p.m. and, as we’ve noticed, mornings may not be convenient time for donors. Our concept is to take the facility to the donor. Thus with a drive on campus, a donor needs spend just 20 or so minutes of his/her time, many people can donate blood and it can be donated throughout the day,” explains Varghese.
The group are slowly building up a database of donors in the city. They plan to expand their activities to colleges in the city and also tap the workforce of the major institutions such as VSSC and ISRO. “The potential for VBD in the city is huge. We are also pushing for a centralised system for blood collection,” says Varghese.
For more information visit www.tejusindia.com or their Facebook page tejusindia or e-mail: help@tejusindia.com Contact: 09847068115/ 09020560331
