KOCHI: An awareness drive to make Kochi the first blood-literate city in the country, began on Tuesday. The movement, aimed at creating awareness among Kochiites on various aspects of blood donation and to create a database on blood donation, will be completed in a year. The drive is part of the Health Mission’s initiative to ensure 100 per cent health literacy in Kochi. As many as 17 NGOs, including the Indian Medical Association and the Red Cross, are part of the drive. “We will start the programme with division number 40. With the help of various organisations, the councillors and others will collect the data on the total number of blood donors in the division. The data collection will include details regarding the blood groups of the donors, donor status and so on. In the second stage, we will organise camps for those who do not know their blood group,” Health Mission chairman Dr Sachidananda Kamath said.After this pilot project, we will study the problems and possibilities before moving on to the other divisions. For division number 40 alone, the budget for the reagents and other basic infrastructure is put at nearly Rs 1.5 lakh. We have already obtained this through donations. But, further on, we will have to look for support from the government or the corporates.” he added.After the blood literacy drive, the Health Mission is planning various other drives, including awareness campaigns on organ donation, communicable and non-communicable diseases, adolescent health and so on. “As the movement picks up we will join hands with all the organisations of a particular division. Through these campaigns, we are looking at creating a network, whereby there will be a mechanism to send health information immediately to every household. This will especially be helpful in the event of an epidemic outbreak.” Dr Sachidananda Kamath said.
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