Islamabad
The Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) will set up a state-of-the-art National Thalassaemia Centre at its National Headquarter here, the society's chairman Dr. Saeed Elahi announced while addressing a Blood Awareness Campaign for journalists. The campaign was held in connection with World Blood Donor Day at the National Press Club.
Dr. Saeed said since journalists are among the first ones to reach the site of a disaster, they can, in addition to performing their professional duties, save many lives if trained in first aid and rescue.
He said PRCS, in collaboration with the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), is providing first aid training to journalists all over the country including AJK and Fata.
Dr. Saeed said a blood camp was arranged at the Press Club to establish a data bank of blood donors so that they can be contacted during emergencies. He said that during the APS tragedy, PRCS provided 250 blood pints to hospitals in Peshawar.
Dr. Saeed said PRCS will provide free blood to deserving journalists and that a journalist can avail its ambulance service by paying for the fuel cost only.
PRCS secretary general Ghulam Muhammad appreciated the role of the media in building the image of PRCS and spreading it message for the service to humanity.
The senior vice president of NPC Amir Sajjad Syed welcomed the idea of PRCS imparting first aid training to journalists and creating awareness about blood donation. He also thanked the PRCS chairman for announcing provision of first aid kits to NPC in order to be able to respond to emergencies.
IFRC head of delegation Gorkhmaz Huseynov and Dr. Kamal also spoke on the
occasion.