The Gift of Life! Rotary Mangalore donates ‘Rotary Blood Mobile’ to IRCS

The Gift of Life! Rotary Mangalore donates ‘Rotary Blood Mobile’ to IRCS

The Gift of Life! Rotary Club Mangalore in collaboration with Rotary Club of Schererville (Indiana-USA) donates ‘Rotary Blood Mobile’ to Indian Red Cross Society at a programme in Loyola Hall Grounds, St Aloysius College-Mangaluru. Costing Rs 60 lakh plus, it is funded jointly by these two Rotary Clubs, along with International Rotary Foundation.

Mangaluru: The most precious gift that one can give to another person is the gift of life i.e. blood. It is the essence of life. Blood is needed regularly for patients with diseases such as thalassemia and hemophilia, and also for the treatment of injuries after an accident, major surgeries, anemia, etc. Did you know that people who donate blood are 88% less likely to suffer a heart attack and 33% less likely to acquire any type of cardiovascular disease. One unit of donated blood can save up to three lives. You can donate blood every three months. It only takes 48 hours for your body fluids to be completely replenished. Statistics show that there are 234 million major operations in India, 63 million trauma-induced surgeries, 31 million cancer-related procedures and 10 million pregnancy related complications which require blood transfusions.

Donating blood is a safe, simple, and rewarding experience that usually takes 30 minutes. If you have any particular health concerns then inform the blood bank at the time of blood donation. An employee will perform a short health exam, taking your pulse, temperature and blood pressure. A drop of blood from your finger will also be tested to ensure that your blood iron level is sufficient for you to donate. During the donation process, you will donate one unit of blood; this takes about six to ten minutes. But now you don’t have to worry as to where to go to donate blood- with the launch of “Rotary Blood Mobile”, you can just call and the ‘Blood Mobile’ will come to your doorstep! ( A signature phone number will be announced soon)

The Rotary Club of Mangalore handed over the ‘Rotary Blood Mobile’, the blood donation bus to the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS), at a programme in Loyola Hall Grounds, St Aloysius College. Flagging off the ‘Rotary Blood Mobile’ G Shankar Family Trust Chairman G Shankar said, “This is a worthy project as the vehicle will move from place to place and people could donate blood at their places, without actually having to go to hospitals. G Shankar Family Trust has so far collected 98,000 units of blood so far and plans to reach the target of one lakh units. I kindly request the IRCS to use the mobile blood donation vehicle so that 2,000 additional units of blood could be collected by conducting donation camps from Uppala to Byndoor.”

Gracing the occasion, Additional Deputy Commissioner Kumar, who is also the Vice President of Indian Red Cross Society, Dakshina Kannada, receiving the vehicle from office-bearers of Rotary Club Mangalore said that the Rotary Blood Mobile is the first mobile blood donation vehicle and blood bank and hoped that the new initiate will help in meeting the blood requirements, and the challenging task of collecting blood has become easy now. Rtn Yatish Baikampady from Rotary Club Mangalore said: “The organisers of blood donation camps need not be worried about creating infrastructure for holding the event. For a prescribed fee (of about Rs 5,000), services of this mobile unit can be used. A committee comprising members from Rotary Club and Indian Red Cross will oversee operation of the mobile unit. Rtn Ranjan Kini originally from Mangaluru, now the Rotary Governor of Schererville has played an important role towards this project funding”.

The bus – the first of its kind to operate in Mangaluru region – has been built on the chassis of Ashok Leyland. Apart from providing space for donation by four persons at a time, the bus provides five seats for donors waiting for their turn. It has space for stocking donated blood in the cold storage and keep stock juice packets for donors in a freezer. It provides reception area and place to stock material required for donation. The mobile blood bank has a storage capacity of 60 litres of blood. The vehicle is equipped with two refrigerators to store blood. The mobile blood vehicle will collect blood units by visiting various organizations such as education institutions and companies. The ‘Rotary Blood Mobile’ has been handed over to the Indian Red Cross Society district committee. Costing Rs 60 lakh it is funded jointly by the Rotary Club Mangalore and Rotary Club of Schererville-USA, along with International Rotary Foundation. The complete interior of this Blood Mobile was done by Rtn Naveen Rodricks (Rotary Mangalore) at his firm ” Rodricks Industries” in Biakampady Industrial Estate, Mangaluru.

B.V. Rajesh, honorary secretary of Indian Red Cross, Dakshina Kannada, said the society was on the lookout for space to park the Blood Mobile. The society was working out ways to bear expenses for maintenance of the vehicle. Rotary Mangalore District Convener Suresh M M Chengappa, Rotary Club President H Vasant Shenoy and Secretary Navin N were present during the flag-off ceremony.