King Fahad Medical City (KFMC) in cooperation with Tamil Nadu Towheed Jamaath (TNTJ) in Riyadh organized a major blood donation camp on Friday. The event was held at KFMC Blood bank where almost 135 liters of blood was collected from 308 donors, and the collected blood will be used to save lives of Haj pilgrims in emergency cases. This camp is being held for the fifth time in a row for Haj pilgrims voluntary donors included expatriates from Inida, Pakistan, Srilanka, and Bangladesh. A standard health screening procedure for checking blood pressure, communicable diseases, sugar level and hemoglobin count was done prior to blood donation. Dr. Fathou Al Alem, Chief at KFMC Blood Bank and Mr. Abdul Majeed, Coordinator at KFMC Blood bank lauded TNTJ for their voluntary service. Faisal Mohamed, President of TNTJ said, “The noble act of donating blood not only gives a new lease of life to many, it also heightens our sense of social responsibility by serving the humanitarian and social needs of our local communities.” “We got an overwhelming response from our community members as well as from others,” he said. He added that they are guided by Quranic teachings that say “… And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved the life of all mankind! ...” (Al-Quran 5:32). TNTJ is comprised of Tamil-speaking youth, whose aim is to serve the people. In the past, donated blood was sent to Makkah and Madinah for Haj pilgrims. The group also collected blood in July this year for Umrah pilgrims. For the past four consecutive years, TNTJ are being awarded as number one in blood donation in Tamil Nadu, India and the organization is also maintaining its top position in the Kingdom. Last week TNTJ donated 144 units of blood at Dammam Central Hospital, to be sent to Makkah for Haj pilgrims. Donating blood is a fast and simple procedure and takes no more than 20 to 30 minutes. Blood donors can donate up to 430 ml of blood every two and half to three months. This amount is small, given that the body contains five to six liters of blood. __
