Blood donation
Blood facts
Blood the life sustaining fluid circulating in the arteries and veins of all human beings is essential for living. It accounts for 7% of the human body weight with an average adult having a blood volume of roughly 5 litres which is composed of plasma and different kinds of cells. These blood cells consists of red blood cells ,white blood cells, Platelets and plasma. By volume the red blood cells constitute about 45% of whole blood and plasma about 54.3% and white cells about 0.7%
Red cells contain haemoglobin, a complex iron-containing protein that carries oxygen throughout the body and gives blood its red colour.
White blood cells are part of the body’s immune system , they destroy and remove old or aberrant cells and cellular debris , as well attack infectious agents and foreign substance.
Platelets they take part in blood clotting (coagulation).
With the advancement of science, blood can now be donated by individuals, stored in liquid or plasma form and used again when required by another. Blood donation once every four months would not cause any problem to the donor and in fact could be a service that is not only good for physical but also spiritual health. Blood banks in hospitals are often in dire need of blood to replenish their stock levels in the blood bank and at desperate times needing to appeal for donations.
NZ Sai blood donation drives
Sai devotes first started donating blood in mid 1995 at The Bhartiya Mandir (Temple), using the moile unit, for two years. Due to health and safety issues, the mobile unit was stopped. From 1999 the moblie unit took donations at the Mount Roskill Primary school hall for a further two years before a decision was made to use the New Zealand Blood Bank centre in Great South Road. This venue is still currently being used.
The Sai blood drive that initially started with three collections per year has now been reduced to two due to most donors being vegetarians with some having low iron counts and need to manage costs as the New Zealand Blood Bank opens on Saturday exclusively for the Sathya Sai Organisation.
Within the Sai Organistion, this liquid donation is commonly referred to as “Liquid Love” as it is the love for another that prompts the donation. The thought and the selfless approach by the devotee wanting to help another is manifested in the form of blood being the liquid love. What a tremendous service! So simple and with minimum of fuss. The amount of blood donated per donor is 470ml which on an average takes around 7 minutes.
Click here to check if you are eligible to donate.