Blood and eye donation by collage students
Coimbatore:Though blood donation is not so rare a feat nowadays, pledging of one's eyes still remains so. But the students of the Bharathiar University did both. `Bioexplora', the students club of the Department of Biotechnology, organised a blood and eye donation camp on the university premises here on Friday. The blood donation was held under the aegis of the Lions Club of Coimbatore Legend Blood Bank and Research Centre, while the eye donation was jointly organised with the Sankara Eye Centre.
The camp started off with the Vice-Chancellor G. Thiruvasagam donating blood. Since he had already pledged his eyes, he did not register for eye donation. Students followed suit. They were made to lie comfortably on clean sheets and were helped by the volunteers from the department as well as from the club. Earlier speaking to the students, the Vice-Chancellor underlined need for donating blood and pledging one's eyes. He said it was not enough to pledge one's eyes, but it was equally important to make one's relatives aware of that pledge, so that in case of any mishap they would act immediately without delay.
President of Lions Club of Coimbatore M. Allaudeen told the students that the population of the country needed at least 85 lakh units of blood every year; but only 50 lakh units of blood was available. Only increasing awareness among the people could alter the situation. If popular personalities donated blood, people would emulate them. He appreciated the Vice-Chancellor who had donated blood on 32 occasions. K. Swaminathan, Professor and Head of the Department of Biotechnology, released the `Bioexplora' newsletter. NSS Co-ordinator S. John Michael Raj received the first copy. In four hours, 130 people donated blood.
They were handed over certificates and a detailed blood report. The highlight of the day however was that there were more number of people who had pledged their eyes (160) than those who had donated blood.
