MUZAFFARABAD: Members of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) cabinet and Legislative Assembly have pledged their all out cooperation and assistance for successful operationalisation of the AJK Central Blood Transfusion Service (BTS).

The support was expressed by them during a visit to the Regional Blood Centre (RBC), on the premises of Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences, Muzaffarabad, that offers blood transfusion services.

It is one of the ten such centres established across the country with German financial and technical support.

“Indeed, blood donation and subsequent transfusion through safe methods is the most important requirement of our time, particularly when we see people contracting deadly diseases from infectious blood donations,” said Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, AJK’s senior minister for physical planning, housing and agriculture on the occasion. Representatives of civil society were also present on the occasion.

Appreciating the sustained efforts of Dr Irum Gillani, in-charge of the state of the art facility, for its establishment and smooth functioning, the senior minister pointed out that blood donation was not only a social responsibility but it also amounted to promoting a bigger human cause.

He went on to suggest that all legislators, including Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, should visit RBC and donate blood to promote voluntary blood donation in the state.

“This will create a great amount of much-needed awareness among the people about the importance of blood donation for saving the lives of fellow human beings,” he said.

The senior minister was designated on the occasion as head of a “mentor committee” to facilitate the functioning of the centre, with health minister Dr Najeeb Naqi and MLA Dr Mustafa Bashir as members.

Earlier, AJK’s director general health services Dr Chaudhry Muhammad Bashir briefed the visitors on fiscal position and requirement of staff at the centre.

AJK had done legislation for safe blood transfusion for the first time in 2003, making blood screening against 5 TTIs - Hepatitis B and C, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), syphilis, and malaria - mandatory.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2017