SPC conducts blood donation camp

Thiruvananthapuram: Allaying concerns of Covid-19, Thiruvananthapuram rural student police cadet (SPC) of the Kerala Police along with the SPC directorate conducted a blood donation camp here on Monday in connection with the World Blood Donor Day. By collaborating with the blood banks at Sree Chithra Thirunal Institute of Medical Science and Technology (SCTIMST) and Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), the SPC organized the camp as part of the Jeevadhara Blood Donors Bank.
“It was a challenge to organize a blood donation camp during the time of the pandemic. But this camp was the need of the hour. In the present scenario, the requirement for blood is high,” said Sabu N, community police officer SPC, Government High School, Avanavanchery, Attingal.
“Understanding the need of society, it was SPC state nodal officer and IG P Vijayan who put forth the idea of organizing a camp. We had ensured to maintain the Covid protocols throughout the camp. The donors were transported in police vehicles. Also, we plan to organize various camps in the coming weeks,” he added.
The camps were held from 8am to 1pm at SCTIMST and RCC. At a time six people could donate the blood. Within this time span, 102 people had donated the blood. The donors were selected after thorough screening. It was ensured that the donors are in good health and they satisfied the normal criteria of a blood donor, including weight. Meanwhile, some of the donors had received Covid-19 jabs 14 days before. The donors mainly included pioneer cadets of SPC who are above 18, parents of SPCs, teachers, police personnel in the SPC directorate and drill instructors.
SPC is planning to organize blood donation camps in the next week in five sub-divisions under Thiruvananthapuram Rural, including Attingal, Varkala, Neyyattinkara, Nedumangad and Kattakada.
The camp, led by assistant state nodal officer G Prathapan Nair and assistant district nodal officer T S Anilkumar, was inaugurated by excise vigilance superintendent Mohamed Shafi. After accepting the consent form from the donors, a blood donors’ forum was also formed.