Bangalore, October 2: The State requires nearly six lakh units of blood to meet the needs of patients every year.
Although the 178 blood banks have been able to meet this requirement, only 70 per cent of this is collected through voluntary blood donation.
To encourage more voluntary donations and create awareness about blood donation among the youth, the Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society (KSAPS) in association with National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and various blood banks observed National Voluntary Blood Donation Day at Chowdiah Memorial Hall in the city on Tuesday.
Motivating students
Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society project director Manoj Kumar Tripathi said the focus was on motivating college students on voluntary blood donation.
“If at least 100 students from every college come forward to donate blood once in three months, we can get nearly 2 lakh registered donors. We are focussing on youth because normally they do not have any major health problems,” he said.
On Tuesday, students from 35 colleges including PESIT, M.S. Ramaiah and R.V. College, who are registered blood donors, attended the awareness programme.
Asserting that there was no shortage of blood in Bangalore, Mr. Tripathi said the problem of shortage was more in north Karnataka. “In Bangalore we need one lakh units a year and this is being collected through donations within six months,” he added.
Who can donate?
Mr. Tripathi said people in the age group of 18 to 60 can donate blood.
While women can donate blood thrice a year, men can donate four times a year, he said.
