Blood Donors Kerala Kuwait Chapter and the Kuwait Democratic Forum jointly organized an emergency blood donation camp at the Cooperative Blood Transfusion Centre Adan, with the support of Central Blood Bank to address the shortage of blood in the health care centers, in Kuwait during the COVID19 period. The camp commemorated Nithin Chandran, an ardent social worker and a former BDK UAE Coordinator, who passed away unexpectedly ,while on the COVID-19 relief operations.

More than 60 people attended the camp, including about 15 native youth, led by representatives of the Kuwait Democratic Forum, Ali Bosheri - Head of Legal, Abdulhadi Al-Snafi, Secretary-General. KDF spoke not only about the importance of blood donation, but about the significance of mutual participation in all the possible areas and the contributions made by the expatriate community in building the country also.

The camp was conducted in strict compliance with the COVID-19 protocol. Protection accessories including masks and gloves were distributed to all the participants. The equipment for donation was disinfected frequently to ensure maximum safety of the donors. In addition, about a dozen BDK volunteers managed the congestion by bringing blood donors in batches in their vehicles from various areas of Kuwait. Considering the curfew restrictions, Blood Bank officials issued special permits to participants in the final hours.

Reghubal T, Ramesan T. M, Praveen Kumar, Jithin Jose, Surendra Mohan, Thomas Adoor, Vinoth Kumar, Riyas Perambra, Mujeeb Rahman, Yamuna Reghubal, Shalini Surendra Mohan and Libu Varkey volunteered for the successful conduct of the camp.

Since the lockdown related to COVID-19 in Kuwait begun in March, the scheduled mass participation camps have been halted. This Camp was organized at the special request of the Central Blood Bank, in the wake of the pertaining blood shortage in the facilities. During the lockdown, BDK Kuwait was able to provide about 100 units of blood to patients in various hospitals. The organizers are planning to conduct more blood donation campaigns in the following months with the support of various expatriate organizations.

Social Organizations and Institutions interested in organizing blood donation camps, jointly with BDK in Kuwait can contact at 6999 7588.