1st October is celebrated as the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day in India to recognise and commemorate the immense contribution made by Dr Jai Gopal Jolly on his birthday. The following is a brief note of the contribution of the man who is regarded as the "Father of Transfusion Medicine in India".
For some regular voluntary blood donors, donating blood feels like doing a routine activity. For many of them, this is a responsibility that they duly fulfill. This story is about a blood donor who sets a true example of this unique category of people.
Association of Voluntary Blood Donors, West Bengal (AVBDWB) organised National Meet on Total Voluntary Blood Programme - Vision 2020 from 23-25th January, 2015 at Kolkata. This is one meet which is looked forward to by voluntary organisation from all over the country.
Recently I was invited to talk to Rotarians in Dhanbad who have been trying to shape up their blood donation related activity. It was very difficult for me to plan what I was going to say - after all, I knew that what they had in mind was a virtual blood bank - or in other words - a list of blood donors. I was to talk to a roomful of people who were skeptical about the blood banks and who were sure that the blood bank does not issue blood when needed.
When Sankalp got it's first request for platelet apheresis, little was known and understood about the procedure. We got the volunteers to donate platelets first and then gradually made progress towards educating the regular blood donors as well as building the country's first voluntary platelet database.
