MYSORE: Seven years, 5,523 units of blood and thousands of beneficiaries. This has been possible owing to a group of Infosys employees from the Mysore campus whose mission is blood donation.
The team from Infosys, in association with Rotary Mysore, Chandrakala Hospital, Mysore, and Rashtrotthana Blood Bank, Bangalore, not only reaches patients through dedicated bimonthly blood donation camps but also takes the opportunity to drum up awareness on the importance of blood donation.
First donation drive
The team’s first blood donation drive seven years ago witnessed a registration of 50 donors. Now, the count is anywhere between 600 to 700 donors.
“Not just mainstream employees, even support staff are inspired to actively participate in our campaigns,” said Avinash Puranik of the team, in a release here.
The team, the release added, had been spreading the message that donating blood once in three or four months would reduce the chance of heart attack by 80 per cent, a healthy person regained the amount of blood donated in 24 to 48 hours, and 25 per cent of the extracted blood at a blood donation camp went to the nearest government hospital free of cost.
In the release, Sridhar, president, Rotary Mysore, said: “Because of the awareness created amongst the Infoscians, it has become easy to reach out to donors during emergencies when blood is needed.”
Narasimha Shastri of Rashtrotthana Blood Bank also lauded the efforts of the Infosys employees. “Thalassemia patients need blood refill every month or once in 20 days. Infosys volunteers are also there to count on, whenever required,” Mr. Shastri said, in the release.
