There is no substitute for blood-Donate and save life.

There is no substitute for blood-Donate and save life. ‘Blood donation’ implies an altruistic act of donating one’s own blood voluntarily to the other in order to save the life of that person. Blood donation is the most sacred act. By donating one’s blood, the life of another person can be saved. That is why, blood donation and life saving are considered synonymous.

Human blood cannot be produced through artificial means, as such there is no substitute for it. Blood is a very precious body substance. Blood can be collected from the donor’s body. A healthy human body has approximately 5 to 6 litres of blood. Blood weighs 7 per cent of the body weight. It has white corpuscles, red corpuscles, platelets and plasma functioning complementarily.

At the time of donating blood 350 ml blood will be extracted. Since blood cannot be produced through artificial means, in emergency situations and dire need, the blood of donors are the only source of life support. At the time of accidents and emergency situations and surgey, such as blood cancer, child birth there is a need for blood. Besides, thalassimia and hemophilia patients need blood transfusion throughout their lives.

Annually there is a need for 4 – 4.5 crore units of blood in our country. The most distressing fact is that only 40 – 50 lakh units of blood being collected annually from voluntary blood donors. That means only 70 – 80 per cent of the blood requirement is supplied. There is a daily requirement of 900 to 1200 units of blood in our state of Karnataka.At any moment, in any part of the country, someone or the other is in need of blood. Hence there is a constant demand for at least 38,000 units of blood. The blood donated by the donors is classified into whole blood, red blood corpuscles, platelet, plasma and cryoprecipitate. With this classification it becomes possible to help the patient according to the individual need.

Blood donation, being a sacred act, every one of us must donate blood at least once in life time. In view of the significance of blood donation, if every healthy person donates blood recurringly, the lives of the diseased, wounded and injured can be saved. In several emergency situations, blood is very essential to save the human life. There is no substitute for blood. In spite of scientific research, we have not been able to produce blood artificially. Inevitably we depend on the donors. We need to develop the culture of donating blood voluntarily. The true meaning of blood donation lies in donating blood voluntarily for no gains.

Blood donation is the greatest of all donations.

A healthy person by donating blood regularly can have sound health. This is not an exaggeration. Healthy men can donate blood 3 or 4 times a year, and healthy women can donate blood 2 or 3 times a year. Only 70% of our country’s blood requirement is met by the blood donors. Since blood cannot be produced artificially, it is inevitable that blood has to be received from the donors.

Realizing that blood donation is a social obligation, if everyone donates blood we can certainly solve the problem of shortage of blood. For this reason every blood donor is considered a hero. If every one donates blood, at least once a year, on one’s birth day or on the wedding anniversary or on any festive occasion, that would be the noblest of all deeds. Blood has no distinction of caste, religion, and gender. Any person of any caste or religion can donate blood. The colour and composition of the human blood is the same all over the world. Service to humanity is the greatest service. Peace and harmony can be established through humanitarian acts. Those with special type of blood should register their names with the blood banks and donate blood whenever there is urgent need for such blood. Those with normal blood can donate blood regularly.

In this direction public organizations and clubs such as Lions, JCIs, Red Cross should strive to bring about an awareness in the public. Also they should strive to eradicate the wrong ideas and myths about blood donation. Blood donation campaigns through street play, visual media and pamphlets can help the movement towards this goal. It is said that gifts of knowledge, food and blood are the greatest gifts. Blood is like an elixir. There is no substitute for that. It has to be produced only in the human body.

In dire need, blood from one’s body is extracted to be donated to the other, only when it matches with the other person’s blood. Therefore, blood donation is called life donation. Every minute there is a need for blood around us. It is not enough if we have healthy blood in our body, we need to have generous heart to donate blood. Come on, friends. Let us all unite forgetting our caste, creed, religion, region and sex in propagating universal brotherhood and peace. Our future lies in the peace of the world.