Manickamangalam school organises 35th blood donation camp

Kochi: NSS Higher Secondary School, Manickamangalam, hosted the district wide World Blood Donor Day celebrations on Sunday. The event was jointly organised by Aluva District Hospital and the school’s Bharat Scouts and Guides unit.

The event also marked the 35th blood donation camp organised by the school authorities in the last eight years. Higher education minister Roji M John inaugurated the celebrations. Ernakulam district panchayat president K G Radhakrishnan presided over the function. The school has been holding a series of activities to spread awareness on the importance of donating blood among the students. The initiatives are conducted by students led by P Raghu, schoolteacher and coordinator of the scouts and guides unit. Raghu said that the school holds blood donation camps every three to four months throughout the year, as donors are eligible to give blood again after a three-month interval. “As we do such activities continuously, whenever someone within nearby regions requires blood they contact us, and we strive to provide blood,” said Raghu. He also said since the students at the school are under the age of 18, the blood donors mostly consist of people around Manickamangalam region as well as the former students. School’s scout and guides unit had previously received chief minister’s Shield award for its activities undertaken for the service of society.