Orissa needs 2.50 lakh units of blood every year

Bhubaneswar, Sep 28 (UNI) There has been a growing mismatch between the supply and demand of blood in Orissa as the state required 2,50,000 units of blood every year against the collection of 2,15000 units, state Red Cross Secretary Rabi Ratna Das said.

Talking to mediapersons here, Mr Das said Orissa State Aids Control Society(OSACS), Indian Red Cross Society and State Blood Transfusion Council were working together to motivate the people to donate blood voluntarily to achieve the goal.

He said for the first time in the country the staff of the OSACS, led by its project Director Paremeswar Swain, donated blood today to set an example for others.

In 2006, Mr Das said the state achieved 62 per cent of voluntary blood collection donation target. During the first seven months of this year, the state, he claimed, had already collected 65.95 per cent of the target.

Mr Das said there was great risk of HIV transmission through blood transfusion and it could be appreciably reduced by introducing safe blood transfusion practice.

Voluntary blood donation, he said, could halt and reverse the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the country and bridge the gap between demand and supply of blood.

UNI