Techies shun Blood Donation Camp
By Sunil Sharma
 
As part of the World Health Day Celebrations on April 07, 2008 a Mega Blood Donation Camp was organised in Thiruvananthapuram. The organisers held the event at the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium in the middle of the city for easy accessibility and to accommodate a large number of participants.

The blood donation camp, which was open to people from all walks of life for a period of just 3 hours, saw good participation from students, Public Sector banks, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and several government departments.
 
But the most conspicuously absent were the Techies from Technopark. “With over 18,000 employees in Technopark, we were expecting a large turn out but sadly it was in double digits only”, said a representative from Terumo Penpol, one of the organisers of the event, “Most of them are young and energetic but looks like they are ignoring their social responsibility!”
 
UST Global was the only company which took the effort to arrange and send a small group of their software engineers for the camp. In the end, even though they had the maximum number of donors from any other organization, the numbers (23) were much less taking into account the fact that they are the largest employer in Technopark with over 3000 employees.
 
Many techies from companies like Infosys and TCS said that they would have participated if the blood donation camp was held in Technopark. Going to the city during office hours was not feasible for them. When companies like UST Global could take the initiative of arranging transport to and from the venue, it sounds like a lame excuse. It’s time the techies wake up to the realities of life and be more responsible citizens.
 
The Blood donation camp was organised by the All Kerala Blood Donors Society with assistance from several other voluntary organisations, MNCs and leading hospitals in the city. The blood collected during the camp will be used for transfusion by the Blood Banks of Medical College Hospital, Regional Cancer Centre and the Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute for Medical Sciences.