Hutch staff donate blood to contribute towards ‘Save a life’ initiative

Hutch staff across every division supported a noble cause on 30 November by donating blood to the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) which is recognised as the best model of transfusion services in South East Asia by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

A special ceremony was held at the Hutch head office where employees attached to various departments came in numbers to donate blood as part of a novel social responsibility project.

Hutch Chief Operating Officer Anand Prakash, marked the commencement of the event by lighting the oil lamp, followed by Dr. R.M.S.S. Rathnayake attached to the accident services blood bank, Nuwan Nirmala, the first person in line to donate blood, Shehan De Silva, Vice President of the Hutch Welfare Society 2011/13 and Public Health Inspectors Anura Fernando and Tissa Wijesara, along with 100 employees of Hutch were inspired to help save peoples’ lives.

As a socially responsible Corporate, Hutch initiated this for the first time to contribute to NBTS’s objective to ‘Save a life’. President of the Hutch Welfare Society 2011/13 Tee Zee Falaldeen, stated “Let the lighting of the lamp symbolise that the blood that we give today be the light of life for a person in need tomorrow. We were so delighted to see employees across every division at Hutch Sri Lanka contributing to this cause and exhibiting such leadership to help save lives.”

NBTS Sri Lanka has evolved as a centrally coordinated blood transfusion service consisting of 16 cluster centres and 65 peripheral blood banks and has managed to collect 320,000 pints of blood last year alone that has helped people with bypass, heart attacks, cancer and other ailments.

“We need more donations of this nature and it’s the responsibility of every citizen to come volunteer and help save lives of people. Accidents can happen at any moment, a blood donor could help save a life in a mere five minutes. We are experiencing increased donors and this is a good sign for promoting regular visitors who are wholeheartedly willing to donate blood once in four months,” stated Dr. R.M.S.S. Rathnayake.

Shehan De Silva commented, “This is an idea that has been put into light for the first time at Hutch Sri Lanka and we are prepared to donate blood at least twice a year.”

“It’s our responsibility and I feel so proud that this is my ninth time of donating blood,” Nirmala Kuruppu from the finance division stated he is not just the first blood donor in line but also the initiator of this project.