Staff Reporter President Arif Alvi on Thursday stressed the need for a strong culture of voluntary blood donation in the country with equal attention towards cadaveric organ donation. Talking to the media during his visit to the LRBT Tertiary Teaching Hospital in Korangi, he said organ donation, be it cornea, kidney or liver, was a charity in itself. “It saves lives,” he emphasized reiterating that the relevance of blood donation also could not be ignored which ironically was rarely given due importance in the society. “We generally come forward only in a crisis situation while its importance cannot be overlooked at any cost.” Recalling his association with the LRBT Hospital, he said his visit to the facility was to see how it could be helped at current point of time.“It is definitely no mean feat that the LRBT through its chain of centres, scattered across the country, is catering a major chunk of the patients in need of eye care,” he said. Earlier, he along with First Lady Samina Alvi took a round of the hospital and was briefed about its working coupled with efforts to further expand its satellite centres in remote and less privileged areas of the country. On the occasion, Najmus Saqib Hameed, Prof. Fawad Rizvi and Umer Ghafoor briefed him about the working of the trust. Member of the National Assembly Aftab Siddiqui and Member of the Sindh Assembly Shehzad Qureshi were also present on the occasion.
