Give blood, give hope: Together we save lives!

Dr Vaishali Nagose

On October 1, National Voluntary Blood Donation Day, a day dedicated to honouring the selfless generosity of millions who donate blood, was celebrated. The Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology first observed this day in 1975, with Dr Jai Gopal Jolly, considered the ‘Father of Transfusion Medicine in India,’ playing a key role in spearheading the voluntary blood donation movement and advocating the cessation of professional blood sales.

The slogan for the 2025 NVBDD campaign is ‘Give blood, give hope: Together we save lives.’ As emphasised by the World Health Organisation, it is a powerful reminder of the profound impact that a single act of kindness can have on someone's future. It requires not only the courage of individual donors but also the active participation of communities, healthcare systems, and governments to build and sustain effective national blood programmes.

The celebrations today aim to educate our friends, families, and colleagues about the critical need for blood and plasma and the safety of the donation process, to encourage new donors, inspiring more healthy people to become regular donors, helping to build a diverse and sustainable donor base.

We express our deep gratitude to the regular, voluntary, blood donors. As a tertiary care institute of Marathwada, the blood bank at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) is catering to the needs of patients requiring blood components, in our hospital as well as outside. In the past one year, 210 voluntary blood donation camps were conducted with collection of more than 15,000 blood units which is more than that of previous two years. Rare blood groups like Bombay blood patients and Kell negative donor have been identified and confirmed.

Extension of the facilities by upgrading the present systems by incorporation of gel card technique to improve the sensitivity and accuracy of the compatibility testing has been done. Also, advanced Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT) is going to be started soon for detection of transfusion transmissible diseases as triple H (HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C). Sterile Connecting Device is going to be functional soon for fulfilling the tiny quantity requirements of paediatric patients.

To recognize the National Voluntary Blood Donation Fortnight (Sewa Pakhwada, September 17 to Oct 2) various voluntary blood donation camps, awareness programmes like essay, poster, slogan and rangoli competitions, poster presentation, pamphlet distribution and pledge taking will be held.

Ensuring a consistent and safe blood supply is our duty and responsibility towards the society.

(The writer is incharge, Regional Blood Centre, GMCH, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar).