KARACHI, Oct 5: Speakers at a seminar, on Sunday, urged people to donate blood so that the professional blood donors, who were one of the major causes of spreading fatal diseases, could be phased out.

They said that getting unsafe blood exposed the recipient to various diseases, some of which were fatal as well.

They said that people preferred to purchase blood whenever it was required for their sick relatives rather than giving the blood themselves. Purchasing blood from professionals should be avoided if possible, they added.

The speakers stressed that the people by taking a few precautions could save themselves from falling to the fatal diseases like HIV and AIDS.

They said that even the people associated with the medical profession were not fully aware of such diseases a couple of decades back. However, every medical expert had come to know about these fatal diseases nowadays due to repeated occurrence of such diseases. And Malir district was one of the severely affected areas, they added.

There was no need of injections in a number of diseases, they said adding that the patients due to lack of awareness and on the advice of a few greedy people in the medical profession take undue and unnecessary injections and expose themselves to various diseases.

The speakers also urged people to get their blood screened before marriage to see if their spouse did not have thalassaemia, so that they did not have any complications afterwards. Treatment of such diseases was complicated, lengthy and expensive, they said.

However, they added, one could protect oneself from these fatal diseases by taking a few simple precautions like avoiding unnecessary injections and unscreened blood etc.

Sindh Assembly members Abdullah Murad, Bashir Baloch, Riaz Ahmad, Nasir Jamal, G.R. Kalmati, Sharaf Ali Shah, Prof Huma Qureshi, Sarfaraz Ahmad, Maula Bux Abbasi, and others also spoke at the seminar.

Later, MPA Abdullah Murad inaugurated a free medical camp organized by a non-governmental organization, the United Baloch Foundation, at Ghazi Town of Malir. A large number of people were provided medical assistance at the camp.