Sukhdeep Singh, pictured with his son, has organised a blood drive after being told he can no longer donate his blood due to cancer.
Sukhdeep Singh, pictured with his son, has organised a blood drive after being told he can no longer donate his blood due to cancer.
Blood donation saves lives, with regular blood donations ensuring that a safe and plentiful supply of blood is available whenever and wherever it is needed.
While the New Zealand Blood Service come to Hastings every three months with a mobile blood donation venue, one prominent Punjabi community and Multicultural Associationmember decided to host a blood donation drive to encourage local ethnic communities to donate blood to save a life.
Hastings man Sukhdeep Singh organised the blood drive as it was something he said he always wanted to do.
Singh was a blood donor in India, but found out he couldn’t donate anymore after having a type of blood cancer.
“I saw the impact with my own eyes, and felt very lucky to save some lives in India by donating blood for accident victims,” he said.
After being approached by other community members interested in donating blood, Singh decided 2023 would be the year for a blood drive.
Local man Sukhdeep Singh hopes this blood drive removes barriers for people in ethnic communities who want to donate.
“The numbers are growing fast for ethnic communities, and we want to make sure we play a role to save lives as well, and donating blood can save lives and there is a huge need,” Singh said.
The community member believes the number of people donating blood is low due to many misconceptions about blood donation.
Singh has heard from people thinking they will not have enough blood and that it will take many months to recover from donating - while others believe they could catch a disease or get sick.
“I want to focus on these things, and want to make people aware that it only takes three days to recover to full blood levels, and our NZ Blood Service team observes strict hygiene protocols when taking blood. And, it is free of cost - not like in Asian countries where blood is for sale,” he said.
The idea of the drive is to encourage people and address their misconceptions so as to remove barriers to donating blood.
Everyone and anyone is welcome to go along and donate blood. All you have to do is register and bring along some form of ID.
“We want to get more and more people involved, and I set a target of 40 so I can work towards a number,” Singh said.
Singh is going to temples around Hawke’s Bay and talking to different ethnic community leaders in the hope of pushing more people to donate blood.
He is also taking details like legal names, dates of birth, contact numbers and times that suit people to register, and he plans to call people to remind them two days before the donation drive.
The blood drive is set to take place on May 25 at the Toitoi event centre in Hastings from 7am to 2pm.
If anyone is keen to donate blood, they can register themselves online, contact Singh at 022 046 779 or email him at sukhdeepnz83@gmail.com.
Most of the people Singh has spoken with are first-time donors, and Singh aims to continue this drive annually in the future.
