Kerala: Now blood donors just an SMS away

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Now blood donors just an SMS away

G Rajiv

First Published : 14 Sep 2009 12:35:00 AM IST

 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finding blood donors could become less of a scary affair. An

SMS to a special government sponsored number will bring calls from donors in

various places, eager to help.

The Kerala State AIDS Control Society (KSACS) is launching this service to make

available blood for the needy at their doorstep.

The KSACS will publish a mobile number to which anyone who is in need of blood

can send an SMS with the district where the blood is required along with the

blood group. The KSACS will forward the sender's number to the regular donors of

that district with that particular blood group and they will respond within

minutes.

The donor is informed exactly where and when the blood is required and he/she

will be there.

The KSACS has started to work on creating a directory of blood donors for each

district. This will be a complete data bank of donors with their contact details

and blood groups. A membership campaign is being planned in every district to

register donors. The directory is being created with the help of voluntary blood

donation forums working in each district, which have been asked to create data

banks of donors to be later collected at the district level.

The KSACS has decided to revamp the website www.keralablood.com wherein donors

can register online.

The website, launched in 2007 to promote donor registration but non-functional

for the past two years, will be revamped by C-Dit.

___________________________

S.Ajai Kumar

Joint Director IEC

Kerala SACS

Red Cross Road

Thiruvananthapuram - 35

Kerala, India

E-MAIL: <ajai.ksacs@...>