Hyderabad: Today is a Red Letter Day for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Chapters of Indian Red Cross Society as they could mobilise large number of institutions and people who have cooperated and volunteered to donate blood with a motive to save lives, said Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan speaking at a function organised on the occasion of 16th World Blood Donors Day at Samskruthi Raj Bhavan Community Centre at Hyderabad on Friday.
The Governor said people want to donate something to get name and fame but blood donation is the highest form of honour without expecting anything in return and there is no greater dhan than Rakta Dhan as the donor and the receiver do not know each other and remain anonymous. He said he observed that the donors who assembled at the event to be full of joy and happiness and said that the word ‘Give blood and get joy and happiness’ should be spread among all people. He said the corporate institutions and educational institutions should make it a point to organise voluntary blood donation camps as part of their CSR initiative at least twice a year.
The Governor said blood donation cuts across all barriers of caste, creed, religion and sex because the donor and the receiver do not know each other. He said the Chairmen of AP and Telangana Chapters of Indian Red Cross Society have done extremely good work in motivating voluntary blood donation among various categories of institutions and people and said that more efforts should be directed towards enrolling more members for voluntary blood donation. The Governor said Indian Red Cross Society serves as subsidiary health centres in both the States and Red Cross Volunteers are the first to respond along with NDRF and other agencies to rise to the occasion in the event of natural calamities. He said AP and Telangana Chapters of IRCS should tie up with government hospitals for health care services and provide blood at reduced costs and ensure continuous supply of blood.
The Governor congratulated all the corporate institutions, educational institutions and individual donors for coming forward for a noble cause to donate blood and safe lives. The Governor presented awards to the representatives of corporate institutions, educational institutions and individual donors.
The V. Srinivas Goud, Telangana Minister for Prohibition & Excise, Dr. C. Lakshma Reddy, former Health Minister, N. Sathyanarayana, Sangareddy Collector were among those who were presented the awards by the Governor. The Rachel Chatterjee, Chairperson of AP Chapter and Desai Prakash Reddy, Chairman of Telangana Chapter of Indian Red Cross Society, Surendra Mohan, Secretary to Governor, were among those who attended the programme.
