A few months ago a relative of mine went through a surgery, a pre-planned surgery at one of the few posh hospitals of Karachi. Unlike many other hospitals the ambience of the place was much more pleasant and delectable than the much graver procedures that took place there. It almost seemed like a euphemism for a hospital at first but the reality slowed seeped in with sight of labcoats,drips,pale white beds and the smell of ethanol and the likes of it.Since this was a close relative and I was bubbling with congeniality I had offered to stay the night with her. To be honest I was charmed and enthralled by the place as the hospitals that I usually visit paint a different picture!
So the story of our hero goes as follows. It was the night before the operation. I was staying there with a couple more people when late at night there came a knock on the door. Since I was the youngest of the lot it became my duty to do the menial tasks like opening doors etc. On a other side of the door I found a nurse who marched in with authority, took a sample of my relatives blood, told us to arrange 2 pints of blood within a few hours and marched off.
Now the dilemma came as to who would be immolating enough to give blood. Since I am associate with profession of medicine I knew that donating blood wasn’t a big deal but to my surprise a lot of people seemed unaware of that. Since my sacrifice of blood wasn’t sufficient we also needed to find another fit young good-looking blood source. I almost have started to sound like a vampire. To my amazement there was a general trend in people to run away from me when I asked them if they would be willing to give blood. Maybe they pictured me as a vampire too. At the end of the day or I should say night we did manage to find a few brave hearts but since I had wanted to lose a few pounds I didn’t let anyone take my place.
So let’s think back for a minute and try to find a point and reason of my long story besides proving the fact that I am a philanthropist. Well the whole point of this is to clear the misconceptions people have in their minds about donating blood. I still remember when I was climbing down the stairs to donate blood a nurse had stopped me in my track to make me rethink my big decision and let a man do it instead as I might face complications later on. This coming from a nurse of a high end hospital seemed surreal as I expected her to be a lot more knowledgeable than she proved to be.
Let me start by saying that just like a lot of things overhyped by Indian movies blood donation is absolutely nothing for a adequately healthy person. An average person renews his blood every four months and his old blood is destroyed anyways.The iron is recycled but for a healthy person with a healthy diet donating a pint of blood even every four months would be as if he had peed a bit more often. A few drinks of any coolly and he would be the same again. The same goes for women too.If you are not anaemic,between the ages of 18 to 40,do not suffer from a major ailment than donating blood won’t make any difference to your life. It will on the other hand make a huge difference to someone else’s life and it might actually save some one’s life. Donating blood also saves one from iron overload diseases so if you are in a good shape help out the people who might not be. I am not saying this because I am a blood sucking monster. I am saying this because this is scientific genuine information. So next time you feel like losing some weight drop at your nearest hospital and lose a pint of blood.
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Good Article nava– though would been great if could have shed light on WHY fit & healthy women are sadly discouraged in our set-up