Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Drive to encourage free blood donation

Thiruvananthapuram: Various private and non-profit organisations in the city will celebrate World Blood Donor Day on Monday. The aim of the events is to create wider public awareness about the necessity of safe blood transfusion practices, the importance of blood donation and also to thank blood donors for their gift of blood to their fellow citizens in need.

The global theme for the 2010 World Blood Donor Day is ‘New Blood for the World.' A new group of young, voluntary, unpaid blood donors will be created to provide the safest blood possible wherever it is required to save life. World Blood Donor Day focuses on the life-saving gift of voluntary unpaid blood donors who donate blood purely for humane reasons.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) mandates that access to safe blood should ideally be a universal right. According to WHO figures, more than 80 million units of blood are donated every year. Blood donation is relatively less in developing countries, which host nearly 82 per cent of the global population.

Sashi Tharoor, MP,will inaugurate a World Blood Donor Day function at the Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan at Nanthancode on Monday. The State National Service Scheme, Club 25 and the Terumo Penpol, a surgical products manufacturing firm, are its organisers.

They are rewarding the State Bank of India and State Bank of Travancore for supporting blood donation programmes. There are also awards for those who have voluntarily donated blood more than 250 times.

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