Agartala, Oct 1 (TIWN): Chief Minister Manik Sarkar encouraged students and women to donate blood to save precious lives, while addressing a seminar on National Voluntary Blood Donation Day here on Tuesday. He said, “It is a great opportunity for young students through schools to help the social needs of the community and promote better relations between people through a framework of friendship and service”.

    "The main reason why very few students donate blood is because no one has asked them to do so. If you motivate students, they will come forward. Don't hesitate. Tell them that through this noble act, they could potentially save precious lives”  

    The chief minister remarked that nothing was comparable to human blood despite rapid technological development in the medical care arena as manufacturing of blood was not possible even today.        

   Awareness is created among people to come forward voluntarily to donate blood so that sufficient supplies were maintained in the blood banks to meet emergencies or scheduled need. “By donating blood we can give a new lease of life to people,” he added. 

     Chief Minister also stated that Tripura still needs to raise footfalls in the sector of voluntary blood donation. He said, “ Tripura has achieved tremendous success in generating blood donation from voluntary sector in the last few years. 95 percent of the entire bulk of blood required for patients in the state is currently derived from voluntary sector. 

      However, pointing at the pending requirement. Mr.Sarkar said, “ We have to ensure that the current donation ration is retained, voluntary blood reaches 100 percent of necessity and that it crosses the mark in due course of time”