Blood Donation is considered to be an act of social service. In order to get the contributions of people from every corner of the nation, we celebrate the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day every year on the 1st of October. The date is chosen to make people aware of the benefits of blood donation so that they can remove all the myths existing in their minds and go for donating their blood to save millions of lives. Every single drop of our blood that is donated values a lot for the one who needs it.
National Voluntary Blood Donation Day 2021
Like other years, there is expected to be a grand celebration of the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day in the year 2021. This year, the event is going to be observed on 1st Oct, Friday. Since the year 2020 has been affected by the pandemic “Coronavirus’ since the beginning, it would surely affect the observation of the occasion in some ways.
History
National Voluntary Blood Donation Day is observed on 1 October annually as the birth anniversary of Dr. Jai Gopal Jolly. Dr. Jolly was a professor in the Department of Transfusion Medicine at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh. He was considered to be the pioneer of the blood transfusion and had run many blood donation campaigns and movements throughout the entire nation. He is also known as the ‘Father of transfusion medicine’ in India.
The famous Blood Bank Society of Chandigarh was founded by him. He raised awareness among people towards the blood donation through his campaigns and movements and inspired people to participate in it. People considered him their motivation for such a noble act and called him the ‘Leader of Blood Banking’ in India.
Dr. Jai Gopal Jolly had born on 1 October 1926, so the nation celebrates the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day on his birth anniversary to pay him tribute in the way he had always dreamt of. The event is hosted by the National Blood Transfusion Council with the cooperation of the National AIDS Control Organisation. The responsible also set a theme for each year’s celebration. The first celebration of the day was held in the year 1975. Since then, it is being observed annually with a constant increment in the number of participants each year.
Celebration/Activities We do Perform
National Voluntary Blood Donation Day is celebrated with great enthusiasm all over India. This is the day to donate blood and inspire others for this.
On this day, an additional class is organized in almost all government schools, in which the children are provided with all the information related to blood donation like what is blood donation, its reason, its benefits, and its procedure, etc.
On this day, various government and private organizations and NGOs conduct an awareness campaign to spread awareness about blood donation among the common people and motivate them for this.
Medical institutions and hospitals run blood donation campaigns on this day, in which any person can go and donate blood easily and can contribute to this mission. The print media, social media, television, and radio display information regarding blood donation all day. People who donate blood are also honored so that they feel good and others can also come forward to help with this.
Objectives and Significance
National Voluntary Blood Donation Day is organized every year with the aim of making the people of India aware of blood donation. Through this event, we can try to fulfill the blood requirement in the country and can also collect extra blood to deal with emergency situations. National Voluntary Blood Donation Day is organized every year with the aim of making the people of India aware of blood donation.
Through this event, we can try to fulfill the blood requirement in the country and can also collect extra blood to deal with emergency situations. National Voluntary Blood Donation Day is also organized to encourage people who do not donate blood despite being physically and mentally healthy.
National Voluntary Blood Donation Day is as important as is the blood donation for us and all. By organizing the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day, ignorance, fear, and misconceptions can be overcome and it is extremely important in today’s world. Even today, there are people in our society who lack complete knowledge about blood donation. Therefore, by organizing this day, we can eliminate the ignorance prevailing among those who are ready to donate blood but they need guidance.
Theme of the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day
Since the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day is observed annually with a different theme for each celebration, we are mentioning here the themes for some of the previous year’s celebrations:
- Theme for 2020 – Blood donation and universal access to safe blood transfusion
- Theme for 2019 – Universal Access to Blood Transfusion and Safe Blood Transfusion
- Theme for 2018 – Be there for someone else, Give Blood Save Life
- Theme for 2017 – Let’s give life a better chance
45 Years of National Voluntary Blood Donation Day
Around 45 years have since the first observation of National Volunteer Blood Donation Day in 1975. In these years, the related organizations and institutions have worked with complete dedication and passion to involve more people in volunteer blood donation.
Blood banks were established in India in the year 1972, but special attention was given to blood collection from 1945 onwards. In the beginning, the gap between blood demand and supply was very high due to a lack of awareness among the people. The supply was around 20 to 25 percent of the total demand of blood during 1980 in India. So the authority understood the need to spread awareness and increase the numbers of blood banks in India.
Later, several organizations were established by the government to increase the number of blood banks in India like Sankalp India Foundation, Indian Red Cross Society, Blood Cross Society, and Rotary Blood Bank, etc. Currently, there are around 2760 blood banks in India that are active at present. These blood banks have increased the ration of supply and demand of blood in India. As per the current data available, the supply of blood in India is 40 to 45 percent of the demand. Though the ratio has increased significantly, there is a huge shortage of blood and still looking for volunteer donors to improve the condition.
Why should We Donate Blood?
We often hear that blood donation is the greatest ever. This is why we all should come forward for it. Through this, not only can we give a new life to many people, but we can also overcome many of our diseases. 60% of deaths in a year across the globe occur due to the lack of blood. We can overcome this crisis by fulfilling the deficiency in blood donation, but this is possible only when everyone is ready to donate blood.
Donating blood does not only benefit the recipient of blood but the blood provider also greatly benefits from it. Blood donation gives the provider physical and mental health. It also strengthens the immunity of the donator.
Tips to Keep in Mind While Donating Blood
We always talk about the benefits of blood donation and do not pay attention to its disadvantages. This is because there is no harm to blood donation. Blood donation is a safe and healthy process that gives life power.
But, some special things should be kept in mind at the time of blood donation, such as blood donation should always be done in a clean place, appropriate tools should be clean, new and improved, and blood should be donated under the guidance of the experienced people.
After donating blood, we do feel some weakness for some time, but we can get rid of this problem quickly by having enough healthy food and drinks.
Some Facts and Figures related to Blood Donation
There are some basic things to know about blood donation. We have tried to bring you some basic and most important facts related to blood donation below,
- Only 1 pint of blood can be donated by a person at a time.
- A healthy person contains about 10 pints of blood in his body.
- The complete process of blood donation takes less than half of an hour to be completed.
- A person with the age of 18 or above is eligible to donate his blood.
- Sometimes, a person below the age of 18 can also donate the blood but only after the consent of his/her parents.
- With every donation of blood, a person can save up to 3 lives.
- There should be a gap of 56 days between two consecutive blood donations by a person.
- Around 40 thousand people need blood every day in India.
- For donating blood, a person should be healthy and not addicted to alcohol.
- A pregnant or a menstruating woman cannot donate blood.
Conclusion
Blood donation is a noble act done to save lives. We all can do it, and it gives a smile on the faces of many people. National Voluntary Blood Donation Day gives us a chance to show our care for our people and offer them the most precious gift we can. Blood is such a thing that can help in saving millions of lives. The most amazing think about it is that we can easily recover the donated blood in two or three weeks with proper care. So take a pledge this National Voluntary Blood Donation Day to donate your blood at least once in a year.