Nilima Jahan

One night in May, around 11:00pm, Milon Hossain got a call from a Facebook-based blood donation group.

He was asked to donate his O positive blood for a woman, who fell unconscious from bleeding at Pabna Sadar Hospital.

Milon immediately started for the hospital, 35 kilometres away from his village in Pabna, on his motorbike.

“After the donation, when I returned home, it was around 1:00am,” he recounted.

The 30-year-old motor mechanic and his brother had taken an oath two years ago to donate blood for saving the lives of critical patients.

They took the vow when Roktodaner Opekkhay Banglades, the same group that called Milon in May, helped save his sister-in-law’s life with 10 bags of blood in 2018.

“Although many fear to donate blood nowadays, I believe if we keep conscious, maintain hygiene and proper distance, there is nothing to be worried about,” said Milon.

Like him, hundreds of volunteers of social media-based blood donation groups have continued their altruistic work during this pandemic, risking coronavirus infection.

Asif Ahmed, a diploma engineering student of Brahmaputra Polytechnic Institute of Mymensingh, is another daring volunteer of Roktodaner Opekkhay Bangladesh.

He has been managing blood donors for the group since 2017.

But he was discouraged from donating blood because of his physical disability of congenital hand deformity and weakness in both legs.

Despite that, the 20-year-old donated blood three times so far.