FOR A CAUSE: Superintendent of Police B. Shivadhar Reddy (centre) at a meeting of `friends2support' in Guntur on Sunday. — Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar

GUNTUR : Superintendent of Police B Shivadhar Reddy has emphasised the need to have a reliable database of voluntary blood donors to meet the growing need for blood in the country as the number of accidents were on the rise.

The Superintdent of Police, who unveiled a large banner of `Guntur 10 K Walk' at NTR Indoor Stadium here on Sunday, told a gathering of college principals and administrators that the educational institutions should take up the responsibility of encouraging youth to donate blood. He said about 12.5 lakh accidents were reported every year from all over the world and this number was likely to double by 2020.

Speaking at a review meeting on the proposed awareness walk, the CHARCA Project Director Rajasekhar said toll-free number 1051 service, which was now catering to provide information on HIV and AIDS, would soon begin disseminating information on voluntary blood donors and procedure to register as a blood donor. The voluntary organisation, SEEDS, which has a band of trained `tele-counsellors' and mans the 1051 (0863-2351725) service, would come forward to join hands with www.friends2support.org to provide the information on blood donors also, SEEDS director Roshan Kumar said. Guntur Internet Café Owners' Association has also promised to do its bit by allowing people to register themselves as donors and search for info on donors free-of-charge at their Internet centres in the city.

Principals and administrators of various colleges promised to send students from their colleges for the walk on November 25 and encourage them to register as blood donors. Red Cross Blood Bank doctor Chandramouli appealed to the college managements and students to donate blood periodically. He appealed to them not to donate rare groups of blood at the blood donation camps as blood cannot be stored for more than 29 days in any blood bank and later it had to be literally thrown into a drain.

T-Shirt released

The Friends2support released a special T-Shirt and a banner to promote walk and voluntary blood donation on the occasion.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail