ISLAMABAD: As many as six mosques in Sector G-8 made appeals to the people after Friday prayers to immediately go to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) and donate blood to 2,000 thalassemic children.

In-charge Blood Bank of Pims Dr Hasan Abbas Zaheer, however, said the appeal should not have been made in such a manner, which created panic.

A citizen who offered his prayers in Rasheed Mosque sector G-8 Markaz told Dawn on the condition of anonymity that an NGO had contacted the prayer leader of the mosque requesting him to make appeal for blood donation. He said the cleric in his announcement said as Islam stands for saving lives, people should go and donate blood.

Dr Zaheer said the figure was correct because almost 2,000 thalassemic children were registered with Pims and there was a shortage of blood.

“But this does not mean that we are out of stock. We only need 40 units/bottles of blood every day. We don’t demand blood from parents and relatives of thalassemic children rather provide from our own stock,” he said.

“It was good to make announcements through mosque but those announcements should not be made in a manner to create panic,” he said.

The vice-chancellor of Pims Dr Javed Akram while talking to Dawn said there were some non-governmental organisations which are very active and they try to collect blood.

“It is possible that some of the NGOs had requested the clerics to appeal for the blood,” he said.

Thalassaemia Awareness and Prevention in Pakistan (TAPP) President Ayesha Abid, while talking to Dawn, said she did not know who was behind the campaign.

“However, I believe that such announcements should be made regularly from platforms of every mosque because blood is life for the thalassaemia patients and they frequently need to get new blood,” she said.

Thalassemia major is a very serious but preventable disorder. In Pakistan, 10 million people are thalassemia carriers. This is a very alarming situation as thalassemia is increasing day by day due to lack of awareness among the people.

Thalassemia cannot be passed on to another person and a simple blood test can diagnose the disease.

Body of a patient, suffering from thalassemia major cannot produce blood and patient survives through blood transfusions. The bone marrow transplant is the only treatment of the disease.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2015

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