“Never should a person die for want of blood.”
Keeping this noble idea in mind, the TTK family and their associates started the Madras Voluntary Blood Bureau around 40 years ago.
But its services were limited within the city.
When the need for extending their services was felt, Raj Kumar, an Indian Bank employee, tied up with the bureau and started the Chennai chapter of Association of Voluntary Blood Donors, which, besides encouraging people to donate blood and conducting camps, gave importance to networking .
“The movement started by TTK family was first of its kind in the city. But their reach was limited. Being a president of the NSS team in my college, I was introduced to the concept of donating blood to the needy. We even used to have competitions among colleges as to who donates blood most amount of blood. times. In one such contest, our college won under my leadership. It was a proud moment,” say Raj, who is fondly known as Bloodraj among friends. Over the years, he has donated over 60 times.
Even as an employee of Indian Bank, Raj continued to work for the blood donation movement. He wanted to take up this work full-time. When he reached a stage in his career where he could take VRS, he took it gleefully and started the voluntary organisation.
Along with the Bureau, the Association now conducts at least two blood donation camps a day.
“Our job is to identify donors, motivate them to donate and create awareness among citizens. We rely on the Bureau to coordinate the camp. They connect us with hospitals, provide manpower, and certificates for donors. In a year, we conduct around 500 camps,” he adds.In the city alone, the Association has around 7 lakh donors registered with it. Every year, it goes to seventy colleges to conduct camps.
The Association also networks with 56 blood banks in the city.
“We connect with schools to create awareness about blood donation. These students are our future donors. The earlier they are introduced to the more enthusiastic they would be about the cause ,” says Raj, who is also a permanent member of State Blood Transfusion Council and Asian delegate of International Federation of Blood Donor Organisations. He is the founder of Thalassemic Society of Taminadu.
The Association conducts camps at apartment complexes and corporate organisations, among others.
The Association can be reached at 2811 1403/22 and Raj Kumar can be contacted at 98410 60853
