AIZAWL:
Hundreds of young couples took part in voluntary blood donation camps across hospitals in the state, on February 14.
Like previous years, this year again, the event was organised in all the district hospitals with Aizawl Civil Hospital as the primary venue. The theme of this year’s programme was “Show Love, Donate Blood”.
In total, 931 units of blood were donated across the state with Aizawl recording the highest donors at 595 units, while Lunglei received 94 units.
Notably, the Mizo youths have been donating blood on Valentine’s Day since 2010 – a voluntary movement initiated by a local TV presenter Zikpuii – under the then theme, “Blood for my Valentine”.
The initiative became an annual event after the Mizoram chapter of the Association for Voluntary Blood Donation (AVBD) took it up in 2013 and it became popular in the state.
K Zothanpara, secretary of AVBD in Mizoram, said, “The number of donors spikes every year and the blood donation camp benefits patients. Even though we do not have statistics, we believe we are saving many lives.” Red roses were also stacked at the reception counter to be given out to donors in the camp.