To boost unpaid and voluntary blood donation in India and fight the continuous shortage of blood, the central government is planning to encourage youngsters in the lead-up to World Blood Donor Day on June 14.
World Blood Donor Day is a global celebration held annually on June 14 to express gratitude to blood donors for their selfless act of saving lives through voluntary blood donation.
According to the letter, written by health secretary Apurva Chandra to all states and Union Territories, the campaign slogan for this year will showcase gratitude to all the blood donors.
“This day serves as a reminder of the critical need for regular non-remunerated voluntary blood donations and aims to raise awareness about the life-saving impact of these donations,” Chandra wrote in the letter, adding the slogan which says — “20 years of celebrating giving: Thank you, blood donors!”.
According to the government data on e-Raktkosh, there are just 47.73 lakh registered blood donors in India. The country requires an annual average of 146 lakh blood units. However, the data on e-Raktkosh shows that in more than 2.5 years, just 45.88 lakh units of blood have been collected which is not even half of a single year’s requirement. The data shows that India collected 45.88 lakh units from January 1, 2022 till June 12, 2024.
Also, the Indian data shows that in every two seconds, someone in the country needs blood and one out of every three of us will need blood in our lifetime.
Hence, to address this critical issue, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s ‘Raktdaan Amrit Mahotsav’ campaign organises a series of blood donation activities on World Blood Donor Day.
Planning for This Year’s Campaign
The campaign this year aims to “thank and recognise” the voluntary blood donors. It also aims to showcase the achievements and challenges of the national blood programs and to share best practices and lessons learned.
One of the key objectives this year is to promote a culture of regular blood donation among the youth and the general public and to increase the diversity and sustainability of the blood donor pool.
The ministry also plans to highlight “the continuous need for regular, unpaid blood donation to achieve universal access to safe blood transfusion”.
The letter said that one of the objectives this year is to promote a culture of regular blood donation among “the youth and the general public” and “to increase the diversity and sustainability of the blood donor pool”.
How to Achieve the Campaign Goals?
The ministry has asked states and Union Territories to aim and maximise the registration of willing blood donors along with optimal blood collection.
The states and UTs will provide a facility for blood group testing at all public health centres, community health centres, sub-district and district hospitals and other blood banks. “This will help the common citizens know their blood group, which will be useful in emergencies for blood donation,” the letter pointed out.
They also have been asked to spread awareness among rural masses along with organising the activities of “felicitation of blood donors and pledge-taking ceremonies may be organized at the Gram panchayat level”.
“The pledge can be administered by the respective Sarpanch… Similar, activities may be organized at the block and district level. The office of the district collector and district magistrate may be involved in supervising the entire activities in the concerned district.”
All central government ministries, hospitals and medical colleges (both government and private) have also been asked to organise similar activities on Friday.
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