India faces an annual shortage of twenty lakh units of blood, said health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad at the end of world donors’ week at the Indian Red Cross Society here.

Encouraging the youth to get themselves recruited at the nearest blood bank as voluntary blood donor, the minister said, “Due to our massive population of 1.2 billion, we require 12 million units of blood annually. Ideally, if only one percent of the total eligible population donates blood every year there would be no shortage of blood. However, at present, there is an annual shortage of about two million units.”

To reduce this gap between demand and availability of safe blood, the health ministry plans to have a programme to create awareness amongst the public so that the community understands the advantages of regular blood donation.

World blood donors day on June 14 was initiated in 2004 by World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the International federation of red cross and red crescent societies, international federation of blood donor organisations and the international society of blood transfusion to thank all the voluntary blood donors.