Half of the voluntary blood donors, mostly college-going students, who turned up at camp to donate and were found to be ineligible for the blood donation. This interesting fact came to the fore at a mega blood donation camp organised here on Wednesday.
The doctors noted that either they were underweight or have low blood pressure (BP). In some cases they were anaemic.
At the camp, more than 2,000 volunteers from various colleges turned up. Fair shop dealers in the city also evinced interest in the blood donation camp.
The doctors, however, found that only half of them were eligible. The camp organisers collected blood from 802 donors only, according to officials. The organisers expected that more than 3,000 donors would participate in the camp.
Earlier, District Collector S.A.M. Rizvi said that the blood donation would help in saving lives of people on death bed also. Many patients were losing their lives due to non availability of the blood. The city was locked between National Highways and many were succumbing to road accidents, he observed.
The relatives and family members run helter-skelter in search of blood.
They were forced to buy the blood from far off places, he explained adding, “the blood donation could be called as life donation.”
City Police Commissioner N. Madhusudhan Reddy praised the students for turning up in large numbers. It indicated their interest in serving the nation. The blood donation would not make the donor weak. Instead, he or she would become healthier, he said, and urged the colleges’ managements to encourage the more students to participate in the blood donation.
The mega blood donation camp was jointly organised by the Indian Red Cross Society and Revenue Department at Babu Jagjivan Ram AP Study Circle. The camp was organised taking inspiration from success of the camp organised previously by the Revenue Services Association.
The Revenue Divisional Oofficer S. Venkat Rao, Indian Red Cross Society district president Dr. A. Sridhar Reddy, treasurer Dr. Illa Ravi, honorary advisor Dr. G. Samaram, Dr. Madan Mohan, District Youth Welfare Officer Velaga Joshi, Assistant Supplies Officer P. Komali Padma and others were present.