Omagh Muslim group holds successful blood donation camp
Originally written and posted by the Ulster Herald on May 14, 2015.
A LOCAL doctor said he is “delighted” with the response to a blood donation camp and charity awareness event in Omagh organised by Ahmadiyya Muslim Association Ireland.
The event took place in Omagh County Primary School on Monday of this week. More than 150 volunteers arrived to give much-needed blood which was collected by Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service (NIBTS) and then distributed to all hospitals throughout the North.
Ahmadiyya Muslim Association Ireland aims to “promote peace and harmony among all faith groups.” Last year it organised ‘interfaith’ peace conferences in Omagh and Galway which welcomed religious leaders from different faiths such as Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association Ireland, which has branches throughout Ireland, including Omagh, is also involved in charity work and community initiatives.
Omagh doctor Nauman Iftikhar is press secretary for the association.
He explained, “Much of our charitable work is carried out in Africa and we recently collected 16,000 bottles of blood in England for the National Blood Service, which was distributed to hospitals. We are helping to run a campaign to promote blood donation as more than 96 per-cent of people who are eligible to give blood don’t give it. We want to enhance the numbers of people who donate and have been doing it for many years in England and Pakistan.
“We have recruited 500 people to give blood in Omagh and Enniskillen and will be holding another session in the South West College in Enniskillen on June 8.”
The Omagh initiative was part of continuous charity work undertaken by Ahmadiyya Muslim Association Ireland.
Dr Iftikhar added that the blood donation event in Omagh went “very well.”
“We are delighted,” he said. “It is the first time we have held it locally and plan to make it an annual event. We have also been collecting funds to help with the victims of the Nepal earthquake and Humanity First International, our sister organisation, have many teams working there. We are part of a world-wide organisation.”
To learn more about the work of Humanity First International log onto: loveforallhatredfornone.org
