Blood Donation Camp at IGNOU

The School of Health Sciences, IGNOU and Rotary deserve to be congratulated for holding a successful blood donation camp at the Maidangarhi campus yesterday. Over a hundred volunteers donated blood and many contributed by looking after the donors and in organising the camp. The participants included students,faculty members and staff of IGNOU. At a time when there would be need for emergency medical supplies (including crises such as the earthquake at Haiti where even Indians are reported as missing or injured), such a camp can either help or atleast be an example for future such camps. That such camps can promote international goodwill is demonstrated by the report in Times of India on 31st Oct. 2009 when the family of an Australian David Moore travelled to India and donated blood in a camp which was deemed to be part of marriage celebrations of an Indian student who had worked and studied in Australia. They reiterated here their commitment to be a part of the wider donors movement. At a time when the attacks on the Indians are again on the rise in Australia, these gestures are worth remembering. (They remind us that a very large number of Australians can be appealed to for building goodwill at times of racist attacks or urban violence of the 'social swamp' which we described in an earlier posting.) The camp at IGNOU also threw up certain questions. The anxiety and apprehensions of participating in such a camp was evident amongst all the participants ie. the students, faculty and the staff. Some exhibited symptons of a higher than usual BP levels or some students fainted. Now the reasons for this could be due to the higher levels of anxiety which prevail in the typical urban existence we lead today. Various studies have documented how these anxiety levels about the body have gone up in the age of mobiles and speed telecommunication. Also, the questionnaires asking for health background etc.could be better designed and executed. As we move in to an an age where workplace takes up most of our time and it is here that we encounter the dynamics of speed telecommunication at its peak, we need to have strategies to cope with its stresses and strains. In India some private sector companies have gyms where employees can destress. Similarly in some countries a good and cheerful ambience is created by the efforts of the working people. This needs to be consciously done. As several writers including Sitaram Yechury, M.P. from Rajya Sabha have recently pointed out (in HT this week), progress in health does not automatically follow economic development. It has to be consciously achieved. As more and more students from diversity of backgrounds come in to IGNOU in large numbers and also leave to join the work force, this task of good health and cheerfulness will have to be worked for. It is here spending time on the counselling of the participants on questions of health background etc. could have been useful in taking care of risks and confidence building . On the whole a success and our congratulations to the School of Health Sciences. (SFC, PG IGNOU with the help of Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew)

NITIN GARG

Nitin Garg
The Indian student who was killed in Australia was cremated at his village in Jagraon (India) yesterday. We extend our condolences to his family and friends in this hour of grief. Meanwhile we wait for the 'full facts' to come out from the Australian government(as promised by the acting foreign minister Crean) on a series of recent attacks on Indian students in Australia.( SFC, PG IGNOU, with the help of Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew)