RID 3291 sets up a blood bank in Kolkata

Rotary Club of Calcutta, RID 3291, in association with the Howrah ­Municipal ­Corporation (HMC), has set up the district’s first blood centre — the HMC Rotary Blood Centre — at Howrah, ­Kolkata. The facility was inaugurated in February by Arup Roy, state minister-in-charge for urban development.

HMC chairman Sujoy Chakraborty, RI Director Anirudha Roychowdhury, DG Hiralal Yadav, PRIP Shekhar Mehta, club president Kanak Dutt and the club’s past president Vikram ­Somany were present at the event. The land for the facility was provided by HMC and Somany sponsored the ­equipment for this ₹1.1 crore-project through his company Cera Sanitaryware.

This blood bank, situated close to a blood transfusion centre for ­thalassaemia-affected children, will benefit not only those children, but also others in the neighbouring Hooghly district. The facility is fully digitised with a storage capacity of 800 bags every month, and the equipment is connected to a computer server which will control the network, collecting data and uploading it to the state health department daily. ­Arindam Roychowdhury, special projects chair of RID 3291, said the refrigerators for blood and plasma storage, centrifuge machines, Elisa readers, etc are all state-of-the-art machines.

The blood bank will also have a blood transportation and collection van donated by RC Salt Lake City Calcutta, said its president Oindrilla Guho. This centre will benefit district Rotarians as they will get blood following a request letter from the club president.

Rotary clubs can invite the HMC Rotary Blood Centre for participation in blood donation camps and collection of blood pouches. In return, donor cards will be given to the clubs for helping the community.