The health services of State are incomplete in absence of availability of safe blood in the blood banks. The Director General (DG) of State health services, Dr RP Bhatt made this remark while addressing a State level conference on the occasion of National Voluntary Blood Donation Day at MKP College here on Thursday. With a theme of ‘Blood donors bring ray of hope. Be a regular blood donor’ the workshop was organised under joint aegis of Uttarakhand State AIDS Control Society (USACS) and State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC).
Expressing happiness at the increasing percentage of voluntary blood donation in Uttarakhand the DG said that the blood has always need in the hospitals. He said that the percentage of voluntary blood donation has reached to 90 which can be attributed to increased awareness level in the society. Dr Bhatt said that the SBTC is working in the direction of creating awareness about blood donation in the State. The DG said that the low percentage of women donors is due to the prevalence of anemia among them. He said an ‘Anemia abolition programme’ is being run by the health department in which women and girls are given awareness about this deficiency disease.
Director medical health, Dr Kusum Nariyal exhorted people to come forward for donating blood so that no life is lost due to non receipt of blood. Dr Nariyal informed a predominately student audience that there is no alternative of blood as it cannot be created artificially. The Director General of Uttarakhand Red Cross Society, Dr I S Pal presented an elaborate account of importance of voluntary blood donation on the occasion. The students of the college presented a play which depicted the role of blood donation in saving lives. The programe was also attended by Additional Project Director USACS Dr Kailash Joshi, Principal of the college Indu Pandey, members of civil defence and large number of the students.