Bangladesh’s young population can play a major role in meeting the country’s blood demand if young people voluntarily donate blood at least once a year, said Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr ABM Obaidul Islam.

He made the remarks as the chief guest at a ceremony honouring voluntary blood donors at IDEB Bhaban in Dhaka yesterday (8 September).

The event was organised by Quantum Foundation as part of its regular programme to recognise voluntary blood donors who have donated blood at least three, 10, 25 or 50 times.

More than 300 donors were honoured with certificates, crests and medals for their contribution to humanitarian service.

The DU vice-chancellor said recognising voluntary blood donors was a special initiative reflecting the spirit of building a new Bangladesh.

He said patriotism was not merely a matter of emotion or slogans, but was reflected in performing one’s duties honestly and standing beside vulnerable people.

“The contribution of blood donors to meeting the country’s overall blood demand will be written in letters of gold,” he said.

At the ceremony, 51-time Platinum blood donor Kazi Hasan Ali, 26-time Golden blood donor Rejeka Sultana and Masuma Hossain Tonni, a regular blood recipient living with thalassaemia, shared their experiences of voluntary blood donation.

Speakers said Quantum Lab, which has a donor pool of more than 550,000 people, had helped provide blood and blood components to save the lives of more than 1.8 million critically ill patients between 2000 and August 2026.

Of the donors, 196 are Platinum donors who have donated blood 50 or more times, while 3,138 are Golden donors who have donated 25 to 49 times.

Another 13,083 are Silver donors, having donated 10 to 24 times, while more than 58,000 are Lifelong donors who have donated blood at least three times.

East West University Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Mohammad Ashik Mosaddak chaired the event, while M Rezaul Hasan, director of the voluntary blood donation programme, also addressed it.

The speakers expressed gratitude to all voluntary blood donors and urged young people to come forward for the humanitarian service to help meet the country’s blood demand.

I kept the report fairly compact and moved the donor statistics and programme details lower down, so the youth call and the DU VC’s main message lead the story, as would generally work better for a TBS online report.