Medscape India chairperson Sunita Dube, said, "In order to meet growing requirement of blood in hospitals, organisations conducting blood donation camps should aim to initiate youth to donate blood voluntarily".
"We must aim to catch them young so that they become lifelong blood donors," she said, adding that accidents, diseases, surgeries and deliveries account for loss of a large number of lives due to non-availability of blood.
Citing a WHO report on India, Dube said, "Our country needs 12 million units of blood annually, whereas annual collection is merely nine million units. Blood donation rate is around 60 per cent blood in India, collected by replacement and professional donors.