In any country, the medical treatment is incomplete without ADEQUATE and supply of SAFE blood to the needy patients. In developed countries the annual blood collection number is about 4-7% of their population. But in India it is less than 1% & many patients suffer & die for the want of blood. Blood Donors and camp organizers are the real heroes who save the lives of needy patients and serve the nation.
And to acknowledge their contribution and honor these real-life-heroes; the “Jan-Sahyog- Krutagnyata-Samaroh”, mega national felicitation & award ceremony of blood donors and camp organizers was jointly organized under ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ by National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC), Government of Maharashtra, Indian Society of Blood Transfusion & Immuno-Hematology (ISBTI), Indian Society Transfusion Medicine (ISTM) and Lifeline Blood Centre, Nagpur.
More than 2000 people witnessed this mega historic event on 4th March-2023 at 5 PM at Kavivarya Suresh Bhat Sabhagruha, Nagpur.
Dr Anil Kumar, Director-NBTC and Additional Deputy Director General, Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India was the chief guests of this historic program along with Dr Mahendra Kendre, Assistant Director-SBTC, Government of Maharashtra and Shri Uday Borwanker, Executive Director (Operations),
Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited.
Dr Harish Warbhe, Medical Director of Lifeline welcomed the guests & delegates and told the background & idea of this program JSKS i.e. “Jan-Sahyog-Krutagnyata-Samaroh”. Recently on World Blood Donor Day, Lifeline Blood Centre was felicitated by Government of Maharashtra as the largest blood centre of the state. Total top ten Blood Centers (5-Government & 5-Non- Government) which collected maximum blood during last 3 years including difficult time of Corona pandemic were felicitated in Mumbai during Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebration. Amongst the top 10 blood centres in the state, Lifeline was the only one blood centre from Vidarbha region and ranked first overall in Maharashtra.
According to Dr Warbhe, this achievement and honor is not just of Lifeline; rather, the true owners of this honor are the blood donors and camp organizers who are associated with Lifeline since so long. And a programme called “JSKS / Jan-Sahyog-Krutagnyata-Samaroh” was organized as part of a moral obligation to pass on this great honor from the government to these real blood heroes.
But this program took real national dimension when Dr Anil Kumar, Director-NBTC accepted to be the chief guest & directed this program to be taken under ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’. Further, he granted permission for the National Blood Transfusion Council, Government of India to be the co-organizer of this event and also authorized the use of NBTC-Logo for this event. Later, State Blood Transfusion Council, Government of Maharashtra and national societies ISBTI & ISTM also consented to be the co-organizer of this program along with Lifeline Blood Centre, Nagpur.
The Chief Guest, Dr Anil Kumar, Director-NBTC congratulated the Lifeline Blood Centre, Nagpur for taking this great initiative to felicitate the real Blood Heroes by giving various awards like “Rakt-Ratn, Rakt-Vibhushan, Rakt-Bhushan, Rakt-Gaurav, Rakt-Shree, Rakt-Vir, Rakt-Mitra etc.” He also stessed upon the need to increase the voluntary blood donation & also told about the centralized data collection of blood donors in the country through e- Raktkosh portal. He further added he witnessed this program as the historical & largest of its kind in the entire country till date.
Then he released the postal stamp of Lifeline Blood Cenre, Nagpur with the message “Safe Blood For All”.
He also inaugurated the launch of global initiative for blood donation awareness in central India in collaboration with Lifeline-Nagpur of Abbott Company “Be The One” with the punch- line “Rakt-Dan, Hindustan Ki Nayi Pahchan”.
Other Chief Guests Dr Mahendra Kendre from SBTC-Maharashtra and Shri Uday Borwanker from Metro-Nagpur congratulated Lifeline for taking up this mega event & thanked the real Blood Heroes for their contribution & encouraged them for the same in future.
Dr Viraj Warbhe, Director-Lifeline praised plasma donors for saving lives of thousands of Covid patients through numerous Plasma Donation Camps in association with India’s first RBD- Plasma bank at Lifeline. He specially thanked Shri Sandeep Kadam, Hon’ble Collector for undertaking India’s largest Plasma donation camp at Collector Office, Bhandara for the free supply of 132 Plasma Bags to the poor needy Covid patients admitted in Government District Hospital, Bhandara.
Dr Vanashree Warbhe, Director-Lifeline in her emotional & spiritual address gave the status of ‘true saints’ to all the blood donors & camp organizers for saving so many lives with their own blood and truly serving the society, nation and the humanity at large.
Guests of honour, Hon’ble MLAs Mr Bachhu Kadu & Mr Krishna Khopade expressed their satisfaction about the services to their needy patients from Lifeline-Nagpur. They also shared their plans to conduct multiple blood donation camps in association with Lifeline-Nagpur in near future.
Dr Sudhanshu Tonpe, Director-Lifeline gave the presentation on Myths & Facts about blood donation, Dr Himandri Tonpe-Warbhe, Director-Lifeline gave the presentation on awareness & prevention of Thalassemia & Sickle Cell Anaemia.
Dr Sangeeta Pathak, Secretary-ISBTI stated that this is the historic programme for entire nation and that she never witnessed such a huge event to honor more than 2000 blood donors and camp organizers.
Hansraj Ahir, Hon’ble Ex Minister, Government of India and the chairperson of the program applauded the noble gesture of Lifeline to felicitate the real Blood Heroes who are really serving the nation in true sense. He acknowledged Lifeline’s assistance to patients in need and gave best wished to continue the journey in future with greater enthusiasm.
Dr Raj Makroo, President-ISTM, proposedthe vote of thanks as a co-organizer & theprogram concluded with National Anthem.
