While the voluntary blood donation in Rajasthan was not even 30% in 2008, it has jumped to over 80% in 2013 which has been mainly due to increasing awareness among the college going youth of the state.

According to World Health Organization – WHO, a country needs a minimum stock of blood equal to 1% of its population which means India needs 12 million units of blood as against the present annual collection of about 9 million units of which 70% is from voluntary blood donors while the remaining 30% is from family / replacement donors. India today has just about 8 voluntary blood donors per 1000 population as against 70 in Japan and 113 in Switzerland.

Voluntary blood donation is undoubtedly, the highest form of humanitarian service and one single blood donation actually helps many patients as blood is usually segregated into RBC’s, Platelets, WBC’s and Plasma and given accordingly for their requirement. Blood donation enhances the production of new blood cells as new cells are produced by the marrow within 48 hours of donation, and all of the red blood cells the donor loses during donation are completely replaced within one to two months.

The observation of National Voluntary Blood Donation Day in our country started on 1st October 1975, under the initiative of Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology. Since then, the 1st October of each year is being observed throughout the country as the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day.

To mark the occasion, on 28 Aug 2013, a blood donation camp was organized at Sangam University in collaboration with Ram Snehi Hospital Bhilwara  resulting in collection of 101 units of which 68 were from first time donors. It is also to be noted that shortage of platelets in various blood banks in Rajasthan due to dengue fever etc appeared in media recently and the students wanted to kick start the Joy of Giving Week from Oct 2 – Oct 8, 2013 with a Voluntary Blood Donation Camp.

It is indeed a matter of pride that during 2013, faculty and students of ITM and Sangam University Bhilwara had participated in four blood donation camps which included the WBDD – World Blood Donor Day leading to a collection of over 250 units of blood.