JEDDAH — A large number of expatriates, mostly from India's Tamil-speaking community, donated blood for pilgrims in a campaign organized in Jeddah by a South Indian organization, Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamaath (TNTJ). Jeddah's King Fahd Hospital (KFHJ) supervised and coordinated the camp, in which more than 165 volunteers donated 129 units of blood. “We arranged this big event and donated blood for Haj pilgrims,” the organizers said. The head of KFHJ's blood bank, Dr. Imad, thanked the TNTJ organizers for organizing the blood donation drive, and said that the organization was the only one to contribute so significantly to KFHJ's blood donation campaign. Vice president of Jeddah's TNTJ, Naina Mohamed, said: “TNTJ organizes voluntary blood donation campaigns for emergency needs of Umrah and Haj season. By the grace of Almighty Allah, TNTJ will continue to be number one in voluntary blood donation campaigns.” The organization also regularly runs educational, charity, humanitarian, and social services. A standard health screening procedure was done prior to the blood donations that saw each donor undergo tests for blood pressure, sugar and hemoglobin counts, and checks for communicable diseases. TNTJ spokesperson, Jamal Gafoor, said: “we conduct these camps according to the verse of the Qur'an: ‘Whoever saves a life will be as if he has saved entire mankind” (Chapter 5 Verse 32). This is TNTJ's tenth blood drive in the Jeddah region.
