Zubair Qureshi
The Indonesian Embassy on Saturday in collaboration with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) organized a blood donation camp that was participated by a large number of the Pakistani, Indonesian and other countries’ citizens.
Besides diplomatic community, students from Cosmopolitan Institute of Tourism Hospitality & Media Sciences (CITHMS), Bahria University (BU) and International Islamic University (IIU) also attended the donation camp and donated blood.
This was the fourth consecutive blood donation camp organized by the Indonesia embassy the first one being in 2016. Last year, 80 bags were collected while this year the number rose to 85.
The Indonesian ambassador Iwan S Amri led from the front as not only he, his spouse Madam Rita Amri also donated blood on the occasion.
Executive Director of the CITHMS, Asif Javed, members of other missions, students and staff members of the Indonesia embassy also participated in the noble activity.
Speaking on the occasion, Indonesian Ambassador said the blood donation camp served to symbolize the time-honored warmth of friendship and cordial relations between Indonesia and Pakistan that the two countries highly treasure and continue to optimize.
Besides a goodwill gesture of care and benevolence, it also aimed at raising awareness regarding significance of regular blood donations and recognition of the altruistic volunteers and the principal role of the organizations such as PRCS in ensuring the quality, safety and availability of blood and blood products for the deserving patients in need, he added.
The Indonesian envoy expressed his gratitude to the volunteers for being part of blood donation and for their support to the cause. Every blood donor he said is a hero. “You maybe a worker, a housewife or a lawyer, but the moment you donate blood you become a hero,” he said.
He was delighted to share with the audience that it was the fourth consecutive year that the Embassy was successfully organizing the blood donation drive and this year the Embassy had also donated collapsible chairs to PRCS for blood collection.
PRCS Assistant Director Dr Wasifa Mutassim who is the part of the this blood donation camp for the last four years said one blood unit thus collected can save three lives. We preserve blood collected in form of three components i.e. Red Blood Cells (RBC), Plazma and Platelets and they are used further on case-to-case basis to save their lives, she said. We also use blood thus collected in treatment of the patients of Thalassemia, Hemophilia and victims of road accidents, etc, she said.
She appreciated the Indonesian Ambassador for annually hosting the event for the last four years. She said that the blood donation camps organized the Indonesian Embassy has served as a motivation for many other institutions and individuals as well and they have also shown interest and enthusiasm in organizing similar drives.
Earlier, the ambassador admired the students for showing sense of care and contributing for the humanitarian cause. He expressed his hope that the students not only continue the noble practice but also spread the message of empathy by encouraging their family and friends to donate blood as well. A Malaysian diplomat Hamdan said he was though a bit scared (his first time blood donation) yet motivated to participate in the activity.
ED CITHMS, Asif Javed assured the ambassador his institute and students’ all out support for the noble cause. What else can be more satisfying than sharing our efforts to save humanity, he said.
A few moments silence was also observed on the occasion in memory of former President of Indonesia B.J. Habibie who passed on Sept 11, 2019, The late president in the ambassador’s words was known as ‘Father of Indonesian Technology.’
