ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) on Thursday organised a marathon race to raise awareness on the need for safe blood transfusion and of the critical contribution voluntary, unpaid blood donors make to national health systems.

Around 200 volunteers participated in the marathon race under the theme of “Give blood and keep the world beating.”

The race started from PRCS headquarters and ended at the same point after passing through Professor Ashfaq Ahmed and Pitras Bukhari roads.

A ceremony was held at the end in connection with the blood donation awareness campaign and to award the winners of the race. PRCS Chairman Abrarul Haq, regional director Red Cross Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Alexander Matheou and others were also present.

Speaking on the occasion, the PRCS chairman said the need for blood was universal but access to blood for all, those who need it, was short in developing countries.

“The pandemic has brought voluntary blood donations to a standstill which had been a major source of blood collection. PRCS in Islamabad usually collect 500-1,000 donations in any given month, which have now fallen to around a few dozen units only. Around 90pc of PRCS blood supply has been threatened by cancellation of community blood drives due to the pandemic,” he said.

he emphasised the need to promote a culture of blood donation on a voluntary basis to increase the quality of transparent and safe blood.

“The day also provides an opportunity to call to action to governments and national health authorities to provide adequate resources and put into place systems and infrastructures to increase the collection of blood from voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Alexander Matheou said donating blood is the greatest service to humanity.

A day earlier, PRCS briefed ambassadors and diplomats from 12 countries about its performance and sought support for healthcare, Covid-19 operations and to deal with disasters.

Diplomats who attended the meeting included Ambassador of Denmark Lis Rosenholm, the deputy head of missions of Netherlands, UAE, China and senior representatives from the embassies of United States, British High Commission, Canada, Turkey, Japan, Belgium, Norway and European Commission Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO).

The PRCS chairman claimed that PRCS was serving the suffering humanity to the best of its capability and without any discrimination. He said the society had expanded its door-to-door mobile vaccination campaign against Covid-19 to contain the spread of the pandemic in the country, adding the state-of-the-art Red Crescent Corona Care Hospital (RCCH) was set up within a record period of 15 days and it was inaugurated by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2021