A mega blood donation camp will be held across the state from October 1 to 15 with the aim of making Jharkhand self-sufficient in the availability of blood, Jharkhand Aids Control Society (JACS), an arm of the state health department, announced on Tuesday.

Talking to reporters, JACS project director Rajiv Ranjan said the special drive would be held at blood banks across all districts following directives of the state government. The society has prepared a special annual calendar based on which blood donation camps will be held in all departments, organisations and institutions on a weekly and monthly basis round-the-year.

“Jharkhand is now planning to become self-sufficient in the field of blood by equipping all blood banks to full capacity through voluntary donations. The maiden fortnight-long drive will begin from October 1. We appeal to all eligible donors to turn up in large numbers. We have set a collection target of 50,000 units,” he said.

Ranjan said that from March 23 when the lockdown was clamped till September 23, they had collected about 97,612 units of blood through donations with the help of several organisations. “It has benefitted over a lakh people so far. We aim to keep all our blood banks full now,” he said.

He said that eight new blood banks had become functional. “these blodd banks are in Godda, Jamtara, Seraikela-Khersawan, Ramgarh, Khunti, Jamshedpur Sadar, Ranchi Sadar and Bokaro. This apart, blood banks at RIMS in Ranchi, MGM in Jamshedpur and PMCH in Dhanbad have already been designated transfusion centres,” he informed.

On the status of plasma donation, which Jharkhand introduced at the end of June in the fight against Covid-19, Ranjan said so far, 210 units of plasma had been collected. Of these, 200 units had been used for treating Covid-19 patients. “Many have recovered successfully,” he noted, adding that JACS had also introduced the “e-rakt” portal through which public can find availability of blood in the banks as per their requirement.