The Blood Bank at Kasturba Hospital Manipal celebrated World Blood Donor Day 2019 by felicitating donors and launching donor health clinic.
The World Blood Donor Day was observed on the theme ‘Safe Blood To All’.
During the event, Philanthropist G Shankar was felicitated for his yeomen service towards motivating donors and creating awareness about blood donation in and around Udupi district.
“Regular voluntary blood donors are key players in providing safe blood,” said Dr Sharath Rao, Associate Dean of KMC, Manipal after launching the Donor Health Clinic.
“Blood donation is a great service to the society and by donating once, you will be saving three lives,” he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Shamee Shastry, Professor and Head of the Blood Bank, highlighted the objectives of the Donor Health Clinic.
“Finding effective ways to retain voluntary blood donors is crucial, and addressing the reasons for donor deferral is an important strategy to retain the shrinking blood donor pool,” she said.
Dr Poornima Baliga, Pro vice-chancellor, faculty of health sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education felicitated Shubha and Lalita--winners of awards sponsored by Dr K Sathish Shetty Charitable Trust for the organisation achieving highest number of voluntary blood donations, best technical staff and non-technical staff respectively.