Ghaziabad: Mega blood donation camps held, 902 units collected in a day

The drive also saw active participation from district administration officials who arrived with their families and staff members to donate blood.

The Ghaziabad district administration on Monday organised eight blood collection camps where hundreds of donors, including administrative officials, donated blood. The district health department said that the mega drive was ordered by the state health department to ensure that blood banks were having sufficient stock for patients and any exigencies.

The district administration held mega blood donation camp at eight places. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The officials of the district health department said that a total of 1,244 persons registered themselves for donating blood while only 902 of them could donate. The camps were held at eight places, including district headquarters and various colleges at NH-58 and NH-58, Vasundhara, Mohan Nagar, Modi Nagar and also near Harsaon police lines.

“The maximum units, 198, were collected at district headquarters and 148 units were collected from the camp held near the police lines. The mega camp was organised under the leadership of the district magistrate and also included support from various associations, private hospitals and NGOs. The idea is to create sufficient stock of blood in blood banks to meet demands of patients,” said Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer, Ghaziabad.

“The units collected will be sent for testing and the final units will be sent to blood bank at MMG district hospital and other blood banks for storage. The donors were also given a card by which they can get units of blood in case of need, within a year,” Dr Gupta added.

The blood bank at MMG district hospital has a capacity to store 400 units.

The officials said that there were directions from the state health department since June and the camps were to be organised on Independence Day. However, the camps were postponed by a couple of days due to festivals.

The drive also saw active participation from district administration officials who arrived with their families and staff members to donate blood.

“I and my wife, Antima Singh, donated blood and also encouraged our clerical staff to come out and donate blood. Nearly 27 of our staff came out to donate blood,” said Gyanendra Singh, additional district magistrate.

“I also donated a unit of blood. This is the second time I went for donation. The first time being in our academy at Mussourie during the training period,” said Prem Ranjan Singh, joint magistrate.

In the afternoon, district magistrate Ministhy S also arrived after official meetings at Meerut and supervised the operational camps and encouraged the donors who arrived to donate blood. The donors also included farmers from rural areas, volunteers from the civil defence among other citizens.