Have in the blood to donate

RK Saboo

Chandigarh has many firsts, the concept of 100 per cent voluntary blood donation being one of them. Not a drop of blood is sold. The pioneer of this idea was JG Jolly who founded the department of blood transfusion at the PGI in 1963. To combat the commercialisation of blood, the Blood Bank Society was established in 1964 with Jolly as its president and Kanta Saroop Krishen as the honorary secretary.

My wife also joined the crusade and organised a camp in my factory. She wanted me to be the first donor, but it was sheer bad luck that I fainted on the table out of fear of the needle. She threatened that if I didn't donate blood, she would quit. Finally, I gathered courage and went incognito and donated blood.

Thereafter, there was no looking back. In 1976, as the District Governor of Rotary Club, I asked all the clubs to adopt a voluntary blood donation programme. In a Rotary Exchange Study programme that year, lawyer Mac Sarin visited Australia. The Australian Rotarians donated a blood mobile van for the blood bank.

Today, in the whole country, voluntary blood donation is mandatory. However, the journey was full of obstacles. Failing to get a response from the health authorities, Sarin knocked the doors of the Supreme Court. With support from social activist HD Shourie, he finally got, in 1996, the decision of the court — effective from January 1, 1998 — that voluntary blood donation would become statutory. Sarin and Kantaji met PM Vajpayee, and an official notification was issued in 1999.

The time had come to have a stand-alone blood bank. In 2002, the Rotary Club of Chandigarh and the Blood Bank Society started Rotary and Blood Bank Society Resource Centre. In 2004, Rotary International president Glenn Estess and Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss inaugurated the centre. Our work was not yet complete. In 2005, a draft for voluntary blood bank status was to be released which indicated that such banks had to be connected with hospitals or the Indian Red Cross. I persuaded PK Hota, Union Health Secretary, to permit recognised NGOs like the Rotary and Lions Club to run stand-alone blood banks.

Now, the resource centre is serving the city under the guidance of people like Mac Sarin, who has donated blood 115 times, Rajan Kashyap, IAS, Anil Nehru, director, Manish Rai, administrator and other dedicated volunteers. We hope for the day when every Indian would feel proud to be a blood donor the day he or she turns 18.

Actor Kamal Haasan rightly said, “I don’t see religious people asking for Hindu blood, Muslim blood or Christian blood at the blood bank when they need it in a medical emergency.”