Pondy achieves 62% blood collecton target

Puducherry, Oct 17 (UNI) Puducherry Home and Health Minister E Valsaraj today said the Union Territory had achieved 62 per cent of the blood collection target through voluntary donation as against the national average of 40 per cent.

Inaugurating the National Voluntary Blood Donation Month Celebrations, jointly organised by the Puducherry AIDS Control Society, Pondicherry Council of Blood Transfusion and Blood Bank Government Hospital, Puducherry, here Mr Valsaraj said last year as many as 2,346 people voluntarily donated blood at 58 blood donation camps in the Union Territory.

Steps should be taken to enhance the target collection to 80 per cent in future,he added.

Stating a section was criticising the allocation of private medical colleges here, Mr Valsaraj said Puducherry had 950 medical seats, including 380 in the government sector, compared to the 500 and 700 seats in Bihar and Rajasthan respectively.

The administration could not provide employment to every individual here, he said, adding the availability of doctors here was flexible now.

The Cath-Lab would be commissioned at the Government General Hospital next week where 11 kidney transplant operations were conducted.

Union Minister V Narayansami would purchase 20 ambulances for the GH from his Area Development Fund while the Lok Sabha Member, Prof M Ramadass, had provided Rs 20 lakh for the purchase of equipment for the hospital.

Mr Valsaraj said a team from the ESIC will visit Puducherry on Monday to inspect the government medical college building which is to be handed over to the corporation.

The corporation had already agreed to provide 50 per cent seats to local students and free treatment at the medical college to be set up by it.

A team headed by Health Secretary Balakrishnan was holding talks with the ESIC team, he said.

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