MUMBAI: A top-down central directive ordering blood banks to execute mega-donation camps for 15-days on account of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday, starting Sept 17 to Oct 2, has received lukewarm response, according to State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) 2025 data.
About 360 blood donation camps saw fewer than 10 donors. Officials say that while some camps held during this pe- riod pulled in large crowds, those were drives planned weeks in advance.
Dr Mahendra Kendre, former SBTC director, said, "All the figures have to be uploaded online on the portal. It is possible that people did not have adequate manpower to handle data entry accurately"
He added that it is also possible that there simply were not enough donors. "Multiple factors contribute to a suc- cessful blood donation camp. Most camps are driven by third-party organisers, so it depends heavily on how effectively they can mobilise voluntary donors," he said.
In some of the cases whe- re only a handful had donated, BJP itself was the organiser. A social worker attached to a BMC-run blood bank noted another major hurdle: while blood banks were ordered to hold as many camps as possible throughout the 15-day period, no large-scale or continuous public appeals were made to encourage peo- ple to donate.
"Organisers need to be willing to take a camp in this period, on days when they were not, we ourselves had done the outreach. Usually we take help of students to volunteer and bring in donors to the camp, but due to festivities that is not possible in this period," said the blood bank social worker.
This year, SBTC has once again asked blood banks to hold large camps during this period. Dr Suhas Mohnalkar, SBTC in charge, remained unavailable for a comment
