PESHAWAR: Unprecedented rush of donors in Lady Reading Hospital’s blood bank after the deadly car bombing showed Peshawarites’ love and respect for the humanity.
People from all walks of life, even women, were seen waiting in front of the blood bank offering themselves for donation of blood.
Volunteers closed their businesses in Saddar bazaar and other parts of the city and rushed to the hospital to give blood to seriously-wounded people.
Tariq Gul, a blood bank technician, said over 90 bags were collected in less than two hours. ‘We are short of space and facing difficulties to create space for donors,’ he said.
Due to lack of facilities and space in the blood bank, two donors had to share one bed.
Technicians confronted hard time in accommodating donors waiting patiently in long queues for their turn. Others also played their roles by offering juices and milk to the donors.
Mohammad Bilal and his brother Mohammad Akbar who reached the hospital for donating blood said: ‘We are here just for the sack of humanity. Soon after the blast we pulled shutter down and reached the hospital.’
It was a rare occasion when a number of women reached the bank and donated blood. In normal circumstances, women stay away from donating blood.
The problem of space has been continuously haunting the people, staff as well as blood donors in the province’s biggest 1200-bed hospital, which has not only been receiving victims of every blast taking place in Peshawar but also in other cities.
‘Donating blood by the local community is not a problem as it used to be in the past. Most of the people earlier hesitated from donating blood but now things have changed for the better,’ said an official, adding after every bomb blast donors immediately thronged the blood bank for donation of blood.
He said blood donation had become a culture and that was why hospitals had no problem in blood collection.
Participation of the common people in rescue work and shifting of the wounded from the blast site to the hospital also showcased the increasing spirit of voluntarism among the masses.
Local people shifted wounded people on motorbikes and in rickshaws to the Lady Reading Hospital as ambulances could not be promptly utilised due to narrowness of the streets and roads at the blast site.
Terrorists this time selected a more congested locality for the fulfilment of their evil plan. Charwi Koban, where the blast occurred, is a confluence of Meena and Kochi bazaars and is one of the most populated areas of the city.
It was the worst man-made disaster in the history of Peshawar that left nearly 90 people, including women and children, dead and over 160 wounded. Most of the shops in these two bazaars deal in female-related items. That is why a majority of the victims were women and children.
Innocent civilians always bear the brunt of terrorist activities. But this time terrorists showed their ugliest faces by targeting women and children in Peshawar. Doctors said around 70 women and children were killed and 25 suffered injuries.
Meena and Kochi are considered most favourite bazaars for women across the region where they can move and shop in a relax mood.
These places were considered shopping paradise for people from urban and rural areas, but they may not be that attractive for shoppers after Wednesday’s blast.
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