Experts stress need for voluntary blood donation

ISLAMABAD: World Blood Donor Day is observed all over the world on June 14 to motivate people to donate blood voluntarily. The day also aims at creating awareness about the need for safe products for donation and transfusion, along with acknowledging the services of voluntary blood donors. This year’s theme, ‘New blood for the world’, focuses on young donors.

Dr Asma Cheema, joint director of the Blood Donor Centre, Pakistan Red Crescent Society, said there was a need to create awareness, particularly amongst the youth, about donating blood on a voluntary basis.

“Currently we are negotiating with the Ministry of Education to include voluntary blood donation as a part of the curriculum,” Dr Cheema said.

Professor Dr Anwarul Haq, head of the Pathology department at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), said the reason behind the low number of volunteers was that most people feared donating blood would negatively affect their health.

“It is not like [donating a] kidney, where if we donate, the organ does not come back. The exact amount of the blood that we donate is replaced within a month,” Dr Haq said.

“Unfortunately, in our country, people only donate blood when there is an emergency-like situation,” he said.

The doctor said there was a need to educate the public and eliminate unfounded myths in order to encourage volunteer blood donation.

Dr Anis Kausar, joint executive director, Polyclinic, gave another reason to explain why there were few voluntary donors: poor nutrition.

“Possibly because of the hike in food prices, people are unable to eat healthy food and this ultimately affects their health. Their blood, when screened, often shows a low haemoglobin concentration, which is obviously not appropriate for the patient [and cannot be used],” Dr Kausar said. She too said that people usually only come to donate blood when there was an emergency, like a bomb blast or an earthquake.

“Considering the rate of terrorist activities in the country, there is a need to store blood in advance,” said Dr Kausar.

However, Dr Cheema said that forcing people to donate blood should be strongly discouraged.

“In many cases, we have seen that relatives or friends of patients are forced to donate blood, and this is not at all safe,” she said.

The availability of blood in a hospital is essential and is required every day, especially when there is a major operation or child birth, she added .

“Sadly, people donate blood only when asked,” Dr Cheema said.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2010.