On Monday 14.06.2010, when the world observes Blood Donors Day, Tamil Nadu will have a good reason to celebrate. This year, the state has been declared first in the country in voluntary blood donation.

The state's biggest blood bank, in the Government General Hospital, has organised a feast for all sections of people, including donors and camp organisers. "In the past one year, we have managed to increase the number of voluntary donors from 82% to 92%," said health secretary VK Subburaj. "This is largely because of several voluntary organisations, educational institutions and corporates are willing to donate. Besides this, we have mobile blood banks stationed in public places like beaches to collect blood from voluntary donors," he said.

The state also maintains a registry of regular donors, where names, address and contact numbers are stored along with the blood group. In emergency situations, the donor is called in. And it's not just rare groups that fall short. "It's a myth that only rare blood groups are hard to get. Most often, it's the common blood groups that go out of stock because the demand for them is more," says Dr P Srinivasan, director of Jeevan Blood Bank.

At least 85% of the donors are from educational institutions. "Every summer, the number of blood donation camps dwindle as educational institutions close down. It's during those times we ask corporates for help. This year, we saw many corporates like Tata Consultancy Services donating blood," said Dr Selvarajan, who manages the Government General Hospital blood bank.

Source: TNN