The State government has sanctioned four days of Special Casual Leave for government employees for donation of blood components like red cells, plasma, platelets etc through apheresis.
The employees will be eligible for a maximum of four days leave in a calendar year. Under the existing Kerala Service Rules, government employees who donate blood are eligible for special casual leave up to four days in a year, but this benefit was not available to those who donate blood components through apheresis.
Apheresis is a medical technology in which the blood of a person is passed through an apparatus that separates out one particular constituent and returns the remainder to circulation.
According to a government order issued earlier this week, the Kerala Service Rule 21, Section II, Appendix VII, Part I will be amended to make this provision applicable.