New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) At first look, there may be nothing that marks out 64-year-old Gabaruddin. But, he is a true life saver with a record of at least 160 blood donations to his credit.
Gabaruddin is among the eight ‘centurions’, or those who donated blood more than 100 times, honoured by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on the occasion of World Blood Donors Day Monday.
‘It was in 1965 that I started. India was at war with Pakistan and soldiers at the border needed blood. (The then) prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri called for blood donation and that inspired me,’ he said.
There has been no looking back ever since and according to the Red Cross Society, Gabaruddin has donated blood as many as 160 times. He, however, claims that the number of donations is 180.
The 68-year-old O.P. Kanwar, who has donated blood 134 times till now, was inspired by Indira Gandhi’s call for blood donations during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war.
‘It was during the 1971 war that I started. India was at war with Pakistan to free Bangladesh, Indira-ji called for blood donation for the army jawans. That was my inspiration,’ he said.
Similar are the stories of 77-year-old Suresh Kamdar who has donated blood over 150 times and 69-year-old V.K.S. Sapre who has has donated blood 106 times.
Most of them have lost the exact count. ‘It is for serving the people. You forget the count after first few time,’ Sapre said.
Among the ‘younger centurions’ are Pushkar Raj Anand, 52, Srikant Gupta, 59, Rahul Sholapurkar, 52, and Deepak Kumar, 46 — all who can still donate blood.
‘The upper limit for donating blood is 60 years. Within a couple of months it is to be raised to 65,’ Deepak Kumar said, adding: ‘It should be allowed as long as you are healthy.’
‘Kamdar-ji is our guru in blood donation. In fact, he has donated every part of his body, accept for his teeth, which are not his,’ Sholapurkar said.
However, these centurions are concerned with the lack of enthusiasm in younger generation towards donating blood.
‘As centurions, we want to make blood donation popular, but no one pays attention,’ Gupta said.
‘Blood donation is good for health. It saves us from a heart attack… the blood is purified and new blood is generated,’ Sholapurkar said.
‘However, blood donation stories find no place in the media,’ he rued.
