Shri C. Padmakumar, Chairman and Managing Director, Terumo Penpol Pvt. Ltd.
Prof.[Dr] Sukesh Nair, and Head of Department, Transfusion Medicine, CMC Hospital, Vellore
Dr. Lida Jacob, Chair Person, All Kerala Blood Donors Society
Shri Ratheesh Sahadevan, General Secretary, All Kerala Blood Donors Society
Dr. Joy Varghese, District Co-ordinator, NSS Technical Cell
Sahodaree Sahodaranmaare,
Ellaavarkkum Ente Namaskaaram,
I am very happy to inaugurate the World Blood Donor Day Celebrations organized by Terumo Penpol in association with All Kerala Blood Donors Society.
Let me at the outset, compliment Terumo Penpol and the All Kerala Blood Donors Society for taking initiative to celebrate this day, thereby conveying a significant message to society on the need for safe blood and blood products. It is also an occasion to thank blood donors around us for their life-saving gift of blood to those in need.
I am informed that both Terumo Penpol and All Kerala Blood Donors Society have been maintaining close links and coordination in their activities for promoting blood-donation. As the first company in India to manufacture blood bags, Penpol has become a national leader in the field, exporting to 82 nations all over the world. It has also been credited with encouraging blood-donation first among its staff and then in the community, by helping colleges to promote blood-donation among the youth.
The efforts of the All Kerala Blood Donors Society in steadily promoting voluntary blood donation is also well known in the State. Many of their members have taken blood-donation as a mission and they actively promote this noble deed.
As we all know, World Blood Donor Day is celebrated all over the world on 14th June, which is the birth anniversary of Karl Landsteiner, the great scientist who won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the A-B-O blood group system.
As the World Health Organization rightly points out, Blood is an important resource, both for usual treatments and in urgent medical interventions. Blood can help patients suffering from life-threatening conditions live longer and can support complex medical and surgical procedures. It is also vital for treating the wounded and has an essential, life-saving role in maternal and perinatal care. Since willingness to give blood is very important, this year's theme is a question: What can you do? The answer is: Give blood. Give now. Give often.
The significance of Blood lies in the fact that there is no substitute for human blood and its components. Therefore, the quality of the blood used in medical procedures has to be ensured. Thus, the concept of Haemo-vigilance has gained great importance. Though it is very important to encourage blood donation, we also need strict vigilance and surveillance in the selection of donors, transport and conditioning, blood component processing etc.
Blood donation campaigns have had great effects all over the world. In fact, the worldwide campaign in favour of blood donation has led to 74 countries collecting over 90% of their blood supply from voluntary, unpaid blood donors. But almost an equal number of nations collect more than 50% of their blood supply from the families of the patients or from paid donors. Even now, just above fifty countries produce Plasma derived Medicinal Products and nearly a hundred countries have to import these products.
India, at present, has over 2,750 licensed blood banks and the annual blood collection is around 7 to 8 million units. Yet, some parts of our country face a deficit in terms of blood availability. During 2015-16, blood collection including through the donation camps, was for around 1.1 crore units and yet, there was a shortage of 11 lakh units. While states like Delhi had surplus blood, there are over a dozen States that face a shortage.
I understand that Kerala's requirement of five lakh units of blood also is not always achieved. The aim is to achieve more than 90% of the required blood through Voluntary Blood Donation and it is satisfying to see a large number of youngsters, especially students, coming forward to donate blood. At the same time, our statistics would show that voluntary donation is less during the Examination season and the vacations. This needs to be addressed through a more vigorous campaign to convince people about the need to donate blood.
An effective Health care system needs an efficient blood service that ensures access to safe blood and blood products in sufficient quantity. This requires a coordinated blood transfusion service based on voluntary and unpaid blood donations. Since we are planning to upgrade our health centres as Community Health Centres, it is necessary to have Community Blood Centres too. Emergencies increase the demand for blood transfusion and so, the availability of blood at the nearest centers would also be a boon to patients who get admitted due to emergencies like accidents, natural disasters etc. This can be ensured by creating a Registry of blood donors in each area and linked to a district and State database.
As we are aware, the number of people being affected by diseases like Dengue Fever is going up every year. People frantically running for blood Platelets has become a common sight. At present, platelets presently are prepared from blood supplied by patient's relatives or friends. Very few hospitals have a ready stock of Platelets. This causes considerable hardship to people. The situation may turn worse if we don't act now, because there are different types of viral fevers that require platelet infusion for treatment. And, the experience is that every year the requirement ofplatelet transfusions is on the rise. Therefore, it is necessary to have a special drive to collect blood for preparation of Platelets, especially during months when outbreak of fever and other diseases occurs.
Regular blood donors perform a great social service, the value of which cannot be expressed in mere words. Often, it is the satisfaction of saving someone's life that encourages them to donate blood regularly. Besides, it is from regular donors that we get the safest blood. To ensure availability of safe blood, we have to increase the enrollment of people as volunteers for blood donation. I would suggest that colleges and universities should have programmes to encourage the entire student community to donate blood by including it in the social service component of the syllabus. At present, it is limited to the National Service Scheme volunteers at least in some colleges. Why not think in terms of Blood Donor Units in all colleges and governmental institutions?
I would also suggest that Blood banks should go out to the Donors and
collect blood from outdoor campaigns at the convenience of the donors. The rules for granting permission to conduct camps also need to be reviewed to ensure 100% voluntary donation.
It is also essential that we suitably honor Blood Donors regularly so that it sends a message to society about the importance of the noble act of donating blood. I salute Shri K.P. Rajagopalan, Shri Byju Nellimood, Shri J.S. Shajudeen, Shri Sathikumar, Shri Samchandran and Shri G. Jayakumar who were honored in today's function as a mark of respect to their service as regular blood donors. I also Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Technopark, College of Engineering, Trivandrum, UST Global, Tejus, KEBS Youth Forum and Big FM Radio for promoting blood donation through Camps and campaigns. I sincerely hope that more people in society follow the path of these committed individuals and organizations.
I compliment Terumo Penpol and the All Kerala Blood Donors Society for organizing this function in a befitting manner.
Ellaavarkkum Ente Aashamsakal
Nanni
Jai Hind
