Tamil nadu: A man with a noble mission

Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, June 14: For this good samaritan, donating blood for the needy and motivating youth to donate blood is life's mission. The 59-year-old S S Srinivasa Thatham has donated blood for a record 131 times during the past three decades.

Talking to sources on ''World Blood Donors Day'' observed globally today, Mr Thatham, who is also the Vice-President of Tamil Nadu Chapter of the Association of the Voluntary Blood Donors, said '' ''despite creating awareness among the public about blood donation by various organisations, still certain inhibitions exist when it comes to donating blood.'' He said India needs at least 7.5 lakh units of blood per annum to meet the demand. But, only 60 per cent was available through blood donation and acute scarcity exists to the tune of 40 per cent.

In Tamil Nadu, there were about 1000 odd registered or regular blood donors. In every district headquarters and towns, the young college students come forward to donate blood on requirement.

But during the summer vacation, its hard to find a donor as the colleges would be closed, he said.

Mr Thatham lamented that the urban people, mostly educated people, refrain from donating blood while the rural folk voluntarily donate blood.

The government, student community, general public, medical fraternity and media should work in tandem to create more and more awareness on blood donation and its role in saving a precious life, he added.

Mr Thatham said another major obstacle was the cost incurred for identifying the donor's blood group and screening the blood samples for any infections or contagious diseases. In metropolis and other major towns, it costs around Rs 650 to screen the blood and hence buying blood from private blood banks or hospitals was very expensive, which the poor could not afford to.

He appealed to the state and Central governments to give subsidy for the expenditure on screening the blood samples for blood donation purpose.

Though some service organisations had come forward to redress this issue, it was not adequate. The governments should find out ways and means to reduce the cost, he added.

Stating that anyone bentween the age group of 17 to 65 years with normal health could donate one unit (350 ML) of blood out of the total volume of five litres in the human body, Mr Thatham said within the next thirty minutes after donating blood, the donor would be fit to resume his normal duties and it would take 21 days for the body to add fresh blood to make up for the donated quantity.

A male donor can donate once in three months and for women donors a gap of four months was advised, he said.

In fact, American Physicians proved in their research that ''chances are very remote for heart attacks, heart ailments, blood pressure and hyper tension for blood donors and the red cells or the hemoglobin percentage is always on the higher side for a regular blood donor.'

Mr Thatham, who is also the Chairman of Blood and Eye Donation Committee, Indian Red Cross Society Tiruchirapalli branch, played a vital role on January 23, 2004 when there was a major fire tragedy in a marriage hall at Srirangam, which claimed 64 lives. Recalling the tragedy, he said, ''not even a single patient died for want of blood or fresh frozen plasma.'' Mr Thatham used to frequently donate blood to save the life of a four-year-old girl, his neighbour.

He also motivates students of various colleges through special classes to donate blood.

He appealed to the state and Central governments to include 'Voluntary Blood Donation' in the school and college curriculum and raise awareness among the young students about the importance of blood and eye donation.

Last but not least, his one-man campaigns had produced good results with over 20 auto-rickshaw drivers near his house at Srirangam becoming voluntary blood donors and even offering free ride to those, who were going to the hospitals for donating blood.

UNI