07-05-2025
Blood philanthropy: Amdavadis give blood every 2 mins, organise camp every 2 hours!
SLUG: WORLD RED CROSS DAYAhmedabad: In the season of T20, the city takes pride in its unique Two2. While Amdavadis may bear jokes about being pinchpennies, there is one area where the city leads the world in giving, and that is blood Patel, chairman emeritus of the Ahmedabad branch of the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS), says that on average, one Amdavadi donates blood every two minutes, and one blood donation camp is organised every two hours, making it a Two2 May 8 is celebrated as World Red Cross Day, Patel said that the city can take pride in its blood philanthropy. "The city has 138 centurion blood donors who have donated blood or blood components more than 100 times. No other city in the world is on record to have reached even close to this figure. We also have all five women centurion blood donors of India, three double centurions, India's first blood donor centurion couple, and the first blood donor centurion with disabilities," said who donated blood 151 times, is the recipient of this year's President of India's Red Cross Gold Medal for his contribution to voluntary blood donation and the launch of the Thalassemia Care, Awareness & Prevention (CAP) Mission of the Red Cross. The mission caters completely free to the lifesaving transfusion needs of more than 1,200 children suffering from this blood disorder. May 8 is also celebrated as Thalassemia city's IRCS boasts mascots Sherdil and Caredil and initiatives such as blood-o-pedia, thalas-e-media, and Jeevan Utsav. Shatabdi Bhavan in the city is now one of India's largest blood centres. IRCS officials said that the lionhearted Amdavadis ensure that children with thalassemia are never out of blood for transfusion, and it is one of the reasons that many are now leading normal Blood donation in numbers4%: Ahmedabad's blood donor to population (BDP) ratio, against 1% for India and global ratio of 1.5%2.5L: City's annual blood collection5k: Number of blood donation camps in city1963: First blood bank came up in Civil Hospital campus56.6L: Units of blood donated in 60 years2.45L: Blood units collected in 2023, one of the highest
