Khoon (Non Profit Organisation) and Lions Club of Guwahati Udaan in association with city based Excelcare Hospitals have initiated a Blood Donation Drive from May 1 to May 15 at the hospital premises and is currently underway.
Charu Agarwal (Director & Head – Operations, Khoon) said "This campaign is to encourage voluntary blood donation by people in the age group of 18 – 45 years, who form the majority group of blood donors at any given point in time. This campaign is in sync with the the 3rd phase of the nation wide vaccination drive which plans to inoculate all citizens between 18 – 45 years."
Dr. Kasturi Kalita (Head – Department of Blood Bank & Transfusion Services, Excelcare Hospitals) said "Since we have a full fledged Blood Bank, we are happy to extend our services for this noble cause. The main idea is to avert any crisis or shortage of blood supply during the second wave of the pandemic. As per guidelines issued by the National Blood Transfusion Council, one cannot donate blood for at least 60 days after taking both does of the vaccine. As majority of blood donors are between 18 – 45 years, we are encouraging them to come forward and donate blood voluntarily."
Dr. Kasturi Kalita added, "We have limited it to 10 donors per day so that the regular blood donations can also continue unaffected and to avoid overcrowding and maintain social distance within the premises."