– Yogesh Kumar Goyal
Blood donation has been considered the biggest donation in the whole world, because it is blood donation that not only saves the life of a needy but also fills the life of that family with lots of colors of happiness, but the irony is that people do not know the importance of blood donation. Despite this, due to lack of blood, millions of people around the world become victims of untimely death every year, in which a large number of such deaths occur due to lack of blood in India alone, because in the country every year about forty There is a shortage of lakh units of blood.
In fact, despite the publicity being done regarding the importance of blood donation, there are still some misconceptions about blood donation in the hearts and minds of many people, such as donating blood, there is a risk of infection, weakness in the body, diseases in the body. Can get stuck or can be a disease like HIV.
According to health experts, donating blood does not cause any harm to the body, but donating blood has many benefits for the body. As far as infection from blood donation is concerned, standard methods fixed by the World Health Organization are adopted by all health centers while taking blood, so there is no risk of infection. Any physically fit adult above 18 years of age and weighing at least 45 kg can voluntarily donate blood three to four times a year at an interval of at least three months. Some people may feel slight weakness at the time of blood donation, but it is only temporary for a few hours. On the contrary, if we talk about the benefits of blood donation, then by donating blood, there is a natural purification of the blood and due to the thinning of the blood, clots do not form in the blood, due to which the chances of heart attack are greatly reduced.
The new blood cells that are formed in the body after blood donation have relatively more power to fight against any disease and this clean and fresh blood is helpful in removing toxic elements from the body, which not only controls cholesterol and blood pressure. Rather, prevention of major diseases like cancer, control of obesity to some extent and prevention of many infectious diseases. By controlling the amount of iron in the blood, the efficiency of the liver increases.
In view of the importance of life-giving blood, Blood Donation Day was started on June 14, 2004, on the birth anniversary of Karl Landsteiner, born on June 14, 1868, with the aim of making people aware of voluntary blood donation. For the first time, ‘Blood Donation Day’ was celebrated by the World Health Organization, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, since then this day was named ‘Blood Donation’. The purpose of starting World Blood Donation Day was that since millions of people around the world die due to not getting blood on time, people should be made aware to donate blood. Our body contains about seven percent of the total body weight of blood and even if we donate three percent of that, there is no health problem.
By the way, according to the instructions of the World Health Organisation, no more than one unit i.e. 450 ml of blood can be taken from any person at a time and our body itself replenishes this blood in 2-3 days. Red blood cells, platelets, plasma and cryoprecipitate are separated and used for patients as required from the blood obtained after blood donation. RBCs can be used up to 42 days after blood is drawn, whereas platelets can be used only within five days.
Some important things must be kept in mind while donating blood, only then your blood donation will be meaningful. Do not donate blood if you have any diseases like AIDS, malaria, hepatitis, uncontrolled diabetes, kidney disease, high or low blood pressure, tuberculosis, diphtheria, bronchitis, asthma, allergies, jaundice. Avoid donating blood during menstruation or by women who are pregnant or lactating. If you have had typhoid and recovered within a month, had an abortion a few days ago, had malaria within three years, had a vaccine against a disease in the last six months, are under 18 or 60 Do not donate blood if you are more than one year old. Whenever donating blood, drink enough water sometime before and sometime afterwards. Take nutritious food rich in green vegetables and iron and vitamins in the food, but before donating blood, avoid consuming junk food, more fatty food, smoking, drinking etc. in any kind of intoxication. If you drink alcohol, then stop the consumption of alcohol 2-3 days before.
According to World Health Organisation’s data, India requires more than one crore units of blood every year, but only 75 lakh units of blood is available. This is a very shocking situation and in view of the deaths of lakhs of people due to lack of blood even in the era of modern science, it is absolutely necessary that a mass awareness campaign should be launched to motivate the general public for blood donation and to explain its benefits. Go
(The author is a freelance commentator.)
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