BENGALURU:In India, 12 million units of blood are required per year, but only 9 million units are donated. A city-based non-profit organisation Khoon Khas has been striving to bridge this gap.
With today being World Blood Donor’s Day, Khoon Khas is trying to make a difference in the lives of children suffering from Thalassemia, blood cancer, AIDS or any such blood-related diseases with their new initiative, Khwaahish.
Founder of Khoon Khas, Chethan, says, “We have brought in a twinning concept here. We are in touch with a few organisations who work for children suffering from blood-related issues, including Karnataka State Aids Prevention Society. We will first collect the data of the birth dates of these children and then match it with the birth dates of volunteers who have registered with us. If a volunteer’s birthday matches with that of a kid, they can celebrate the D-day together. If the parents, caretakers or the kid aren’t willing to celebrate birthday with a stranger, they can send a gift or extend monetary support to the family or kid and also register to donate blood. With this, we are exploring the unexplored sector of blood donation concept.”
There are thousands of children in Bengaluru alone suffering from Thalassemia, blood cancer or AIDS and they are always in need of blood for their treatment. The initiative is also sure to help an individual know an ailing kid’s condition closely, Chetan adds. “Interacting with them will also make the kids more brave and confident,” he says.
Apart from this, they are also launching an app Khoon, which notifies its users in case blood is required within 10 kilometres of their location.
‘Include deaf and dumb’
Khoon is also organising a get-together for deaf and dumb, of all ages, and an awareness session about blood donation in Assam. “Though they are deaf and dumb, most of them are fit and eligible to donate blood. But, they are unaware of it because of which a large number of them is excluded from donating blood. During the meet up, we will create awareness about the same. We are planning to have them as the face of blood donation campaign to inspire others,” Chethan adds.
For more details on how to register, one can visit http://www.khoonkhas.org/ or contact: 9538244183.