Blood Donation Camp

The mood was festive. India winning ICC One Day Cricket World Cup was an added factor. At times the queue were 25 persons long. People waited patiently for their turn. Being rejected due to low BP made many befriend glucose water, banana, cake, biscuit to savage the situation, if possible. None was ready to give up. We started at 10 AM. Even at 2:30 PM many were waiting. They had to leave reluctantly as the blood bank people gave up! They had reached their capacity. The count was 106 at that time, 6 more than what they were prepared.

We had informal chats with donors when they were resting after donation. One M.Tech. student proposed to make it an half-yearly event. Later, the blood bank doctor congratulated us on selection of this month. In April, they do have a scarcity. They requested us to arrange one in every April. All the blood bank staffs, specially Dr. Jhuma Mukhopadhyaya of Sub Division Hospital made the entire exercise look easy. Dr. Seema Roy of BC Roy Tech. Hospital extended full support and encouraged the NSS volunteers right from Day one. Dr. Mishra, CMO, BC Roy Tech. Hospital motivated the volunteers and discussed how we can improve next time.

Prof. Samik Sural was the first in sequence. The second was MD. Sahidullah, a PhD scholar. The third was Prof. Rajat Subhra Chakraborty, one program officer of NSS. This shows how the larger IIT Kharagpur community came forward and participated in this joy of giving. There were many a cases where someone who missed pre-registration were worried if they would get the opportunity. Deepashri Sengupta, a non-NSS student contacted us only in the morning and an NSS volunteer made way for her. It was heartening to see the enthusiasm and resolve among the donors.

State Government Cell gave NSS, IIT Khaargpur a certificate of appreciation for organizing the camp. It belongs to larger IIT Kharagpur community. We are overwhelmed and humbled. Few pics have been pasted in this post. More are available here (Link).

A lot of volunteers worked extra hard. You can see them in pics. Rishabh who led from the front, is missed here due to a field tour arranged by his Dept. On 2nd April evening, when Cricket World Cup final was on, he was visiting B C Roy Hospital, the venue for a final check.

Blood donor's credit card will be distributed during 11-13th April, 6-7 PM from the office of Prof. Goutam Saha, Program Coordinator, NSS, IIT Kharagpur (Room No. R101, G-Floor, Rear Block, Dept. of Electronics & ECE, IIT Kharagpur).

Dr. Mishra while addressing a group of NSS volunteers in the run up to the blood donation camp told something interesting. There is a practice not to thank the blood donors as this is considered as duty which all should render. Let us end this post with a few lines of Henry Burton.

Have you had a kindness shown?
Pass it on;

'Twas not given for thee alone,
Pass it on;

Let it travel down the years,
Let it wipe another's tears,

'Til in Heaven the deed appears -
Pass it on.

~Henry Burton, Pass It On