1st October is celebrated as the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day in India to recognise and commemorate the immense contribution made by Dr Jai Gopal Jolly on his birthday. The following is a brief note of the contribution of the man who is regarded as the "Father of Transfusion Medicine in India".
Bone marrow transplantation celebrated the completion of 43 years this year[1]. In last four decades BMT has established itself as the only definitive cure for a number of blood disorders. In India, the BMT program is 30 years old and the first transplant dates back to 1983 which was done at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai[2]. Over the last two decades the treatment protocols across the globe have matured and the survival rates of people undertaking transplants has substantially improved[3,4].
The following are the highlights of the activities at the Thalassemia Prevention, Management and Cure Program of Sankalp India Foundation for the month of August.
Rakta Kranti - the news from the blood donation drives
After the busy summer months of organising a huge number of camps, Sankalp slowed down the pace in August. During the month of August, plenty of organisations plan for blood donation drives due to Independence Day. Degree colleges would also have started classes and many of them plan for drives.
On 13th September 2014, Disha the blood help-line will be celebrating the 8th year of continuous service. Since the launch on the evening of 13th September 2006 at the Raj Bhawan by the then governor of Karnatataka Sh. T N Chaturvedi, the help-line has grown into a reliable, single window access to blood for all parts of Karnataka.
As we crossed the milestone of 50,000 units of blood collected in our blood donation drives, it's the occasion of celebration of the spirit of voluntary blood donation.
We would like to thank and congratulate all the organisations who trusted us and supported us by regularly organising blood donation drives.
Iron chelation is an important and very costly part of thalassemia management. Over last 3 years we have been monitoring and helping make better the chelation therapy for children with thalassemia. We share here the common mistakes which often go unnoticed.
