HYDERABAD, Sept 4: District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil has stressed the need for establishing a blood bank in Hyderabad according to the WHO standard. It was due to non-availability of healthy blood that a large number of people had contracted Aids and hepatitis, he said.

Speaking at a seminar on the “Transfusion of Safe Blood”, he regretted that some people had turned this human and social service into a profitable business. However, he said volunteers should be provided opportunity to discourage professional blood sellers.

The Global Fund, the Hussaini Blood Bank and the Human Aid Association jointly organised the event at a local hotel on Sunday.

He also stressed the need for evolving a system where recognised blood banks could provide blood to deserving patients free of cost.

Mr Jamil said life was a gift from God and it was a worship to save life through all available means. He said road accidents had become common and blood was always needed to save lives of injured people.

He said Hyderabad was the second biggest city of Sindh which had a huge population and badly needed a standard blood bank equipped with modern technology. The nazim invited the administration of Hussaini Blood Bank to establish a blood bank in Hyderabad to encourage volunteers.

The district nazim offered to donate his blood every six months throughout his life. He urged the government to evolve a fool-proof system where only healthy blood was made available to needy persons.

Provincial programme manager and Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority secretary Dr Zahid Hussain Ansari, Aids Control Programme Manager Dr Arshad Mehmood, The Global Fund Project Director and Hussaini Blood Bank Dr Sarfaraz Jafri and medical in charge of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Prof S. A. Mujeeb were present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sarfaraz Jafri, Dr Zahid Ansari and Dr Arshad Mehmood said that to control Aids and hepatitis B and C, it was imperative that only healthy blood should be arranged for the needy patients.

They said that to create awareness among the masses about safe and healthy blood, seminars had been held in Peshawar, Lahore, Quetta, Karachi, Muzaffarabad and Islamabad. Over 300 people had also been given training in blood transfusion, they added.

They appealed to the people to discourage professional blood sellers and encourage voluntarily blood donation. They said there were 65,000 thalassaemia patients in the country and added that an increase of 5,000 cases per annum increase in the cases were 5,000.

They said each thalassaemia patient needed 25 bottles of blood a year for which 2.6-2.8 million blood units were required. They, however, pointed out that only 1.3 to 1.5 million unit of blood was being donated.

DEFORESTATION: The Hyderabad district nazim has expressed grave concern over the increase in deforestation, saying that this was causing great damage not only to the environment but also to the wildlife.

He stressed the need for massive forestation to control pollution and held out an assurance that the district government would bear all expenses for growing new trees.

Speaking during his visit to the Gondi and Miani forests here on Saturday, the district nazim said that 15 years ago, the Gondi forest had been considered one of the biggest forests, but presently a large number of trees had been cut.

He said, to check deforestation, he had already appointed a committee for the protection of forest and wildlife in the district.

He said the condition of the lease of the Gondi and Miani forests was being violated by planting trees on 25 per cent of the area and directed the forest officials to ensure the total implementation of the lease.

EDO agriculture Shahabuddin Shaikh, EDO revenue Abdul Sattar Jatoo, district forest officers Anwar Baloch and Habibullah Nizamani were present on the occasion.

SPECIAL FLIGHTS: People’s Party leader and MNA from the Jamshoro district Nawab Abdul Ghani Talpur has urged the PIA chairman to start special flights to facilitate travel to Sehwan on the Urs of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar.

In a statement issued here on Monday, he said that if the national flag carrier was short of planes, it could hire the services of other airlines which were ready to start special service from Karachi to Sehwan and vice versa.

The MNA said the Sehwan airport was in good condition and the planes of the oil companies frequently landed there.

He said the introduction of special air service would save precious lives as many people were killed in road accidents every year during the Urs celebrations.

He demanded that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) should investigate into the alleged embezzlement of tens of millions of rupees spent on the repairs of the Mazaar as according to him substandard material had been used in the repairs.