Dehradun, October 26 : Uttarakhand has become the first state to include blood donation awareness programme in school curriculum. The State Voluntary Blood Donation Committee has roped in both private and government schools in the first phase of the programme and a total of 50 schools have been brought in.
The programme will be started from November. In the second phase of the programme, more schools will be added.
“We plan to strengthen the blood donation movement and see children as future blood donors. The children are asked to take oath that they will voluntarily donate blood once they gain the right age for donation,” said Vinita Srivastav, consultant of the committee and State AIDS Control Society.
The committee recently organised a blood donation awareness camp at KV, ITBP.
To attract more and more volunteers, complete health check-up of students is undertaken. “If regular donations are undertaken, one can be sure of getting a health card. In fact, women suffering from anaemia are given iron tablets and other vitamins so that they return for donations once their blood count is restored,” said Vinita.
To encourage voluntary blood donations, the donor and his family is also eligible for health check-ups at the hospitals. Despite making these provisions, the blood donations continue to be a tough task requiring a lot of homework on part of the motivators.
tAGS
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