Donate blood voluntarily, says judge

Healthy persons should voluntarily donate  blood. This could save lives and also, the health will also improve by donating blood, said district Principal and Sessions Judge Shivashankar B Amarannanavr.

He was speaking after inaugurating World Blood Donors’ Day observed by the district administration, Indian Red Cross Society Udupi unit and various other organisations in Vajapayee Hall in district administration complex in Udupi on Tuesday. He said blood cannot be produced artificially and can only be availed from a donor. Hence, it is the best donation of all. Amarannanavar meanwhile felt for a need to ward off the myths related to blood donation. By donating blood, he cholesterol gets decreased and will help reduce the possibilities of cardiac arrest. All healthy individuals between the age of 18 and 60 can donate their blood, he said. The judge himself donated blood after the formal programme.

Udupi MLA Pramod Madhwaraj who presided over  the function, said the donation given without the expectation of returns in the best donation ever and blood donation could save lives. He said only 350 millilitres of blood will be obtained from the donor at a time and the equivalent quantity of blood will be generated in the body within two days.

He said there was a shortage of blood in Udupi district hospital blood bank and the requirement for blood could be met by organising blood donation camps regularly.

Delivering the keynote address, District Aids Prevention Officer Dr Nikin Shetty said that there is a requirement of 1.40 crore units of blood annually in India and the units of blood collected are 90 lakh to one crore. There is a shortage of 40 lakh units of blood. Currently, one percent of population in India donates blood. The shortage could be overcome if two per cent of population donates blood, Dr Nikin said and added that Udupi has stood in the first position as two per cent of population in the district has been donating blood.
Chidanada Pai, Vinutha Kiran, Anil Kumar, Uday Kumar Shetty and Sushanth Lawrence, who donated blood a number of times, were felicitated on the occasion.