01 October 2020 –
“Donate your blood for a reason, let the reason to be life.”
Observation of National Voluntary Blood Donation Day in our country started on 1st October 1975, under the initiative of Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology (established on 22nd October 1971) with the guidance of Mrs.K.Swaroop Krishen( a well known social worker in the field of voluntary blood donation movement in India) and Dr.J.G.Jolly, the then in charge of Blood Bank, P.G.I. Chandigarh. Since then, the 1st October of each year is being observed throughout the country as the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day. In the year 1996, National Aids Control Organisation came forward to support the observation.
The main objectives of observing this day are:-
1. To increase awareness among the peoples of this Country, the importance of voluntary blood donation.
2. To achieve 100% Voluntary Blood Donation, so as to be able to give the safest blood to the needy patients.
3. To have enough blood stock in our blood banks for any eventuality.
4. To give our thanks and reinforce the self esteem of those who donate blood voluntarily, so that they continue to do so regularly.
5. To inspire those who had not donated blood but are in good health, to start donating blood.
6. To inspire those donors who donate blood only for their relatives or friends, to donate voluntarily.
It is well known that transfusion of blood or its components is one of the very important components of the modern health care system. Many surgical and medical conditions require transfusion of blood and its components during the treatment process. Morerover in cases of mass casualties, blood transfusion playes a vital role in the life saving process. But this vital fluid called blood cannot be manufactured in factories, and someone has to donate. A healthy person within the age of 18 to 65 years, having a minimum weight of 45kg and haemoglobin 12.5 gm% can donate blood in every three month, four times a year. Blood donors are classified as voluntary and replacement. Voluntary donors are those who donate blood by his or her own will and without getting any cash or kind for donating blood and their main aim is to save a life. Replacement donors donate blood only when one of his or her relatives or friends need blood transfusion. Previously there were another type of donors known as professional or paid donors. As their blood is not considered safe for transfusion, the supreme court of this country has banned them from donating blood since 1st January 1998.
Though blood transfusion has saved many lives, this vital fluid also carries the risks of transmitting diseases. It is therefore mandatory to test every unit of blood collected for the presence or absence of five disease markers ( Transfusion transmitted infections) i.e. Human immunodeficiency Virus, Hepatitis-B, Hepatitis-C, syphilis and malaria. If one of the tests is positive the blood unit must be discarded. No blood or its components can be issued without testing the above five disease markers. But in the disease process there is a certain period known as the window period, and during this period the disease cannot be detected by the test done. Advanced testing facility like nucleic acid testing can only shorten the detection during the window period.
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