ANOTHER DAY AT THE NATIONAL BLOOD CENTER:
WHERE ARE ALL THE KIND-HEARTED PEOPLE – THE ULAMA, PRIESTS, SAMMYS, NATURALISTS, NGO LEADERS, BENEVOLENT POLITICIANS, BLOGGERS AND THE MANY DATUKS, TAN SRIS AND TUNS…AND YOU?
By Mansor Puteh
I HAVE NOT SEEN MANY DOCTORS AND MEDICAL AND NURSING STUDENTS DONATING BLOOD.
IN FACT, I HAVE NOT SEEN ANYONE FROM MERCY MALAYSIA, AMAN MALAYSIA, PUTERA 1MALAYSIA, AND THE OTHER HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS WHO HAVE DONATED BLOOD REGULARLY AT THE NATIONAL BLOOD CENTER OR PUSAT DARAH NEGARA.
THEY, WHO DARE TO GO TO THE TOP HOTSPOTS IN THE WORLD RISKING THEIR LIVES, YET, WHO HAD NOT BOTHERED TO START DONATING BLOOD WHEN THEY WERE STILL SMALL.
So this proves that the only reasons why they are in such humanitarian organizations doing all those things are because of personal ones; that they are what many are talking about. So they can get media attention and be seen as humanists.
But alas, they are humanists who do not care to donate blood which is a fairly simple thing to do as a life-long habit.
This is the sad tale of the many top and regular blood donors of Malaysia and how they are treated kindly when they are donating, but like retired pedigree race-horses and forgotten.
I was at Blood Center today, donating blood as usual and for the 329th time.
I could have become the top blood donor of Malaysia if I had not stopped donating for ten years when I was studying and living abroad and doing other things afterwards.
My blood type: O+. What’s yours? Have I seen you there at any time through the few decades I have been to the blood center?
Maybe I have.
But chances are those who have been coming to the center to donate blood over the years, sometimes every three months or even every two weeks as in my case, we might not have seen you.
I have seen only few people from the film industry; one of them is Accapan. Where are the others from this and the other industries?
And where are the kind-hearted ulama and those mentioned in the headline of this essay? And where are you?
There is no blogger who has been known to have been donating blood.
In fact, there is no Raja or Tengku or Tunku who has been sighted coming anywhere near the center.
I also did not see any Datuk, Tan Sri, much less Tun donating blood at the center.
Of course one cannot expect to see any Datuk, Tan Sri or Tun donating blood after they were given the titles. But if they were such kind-hearted persons, surely, they would have thought of donating blood when they were small.
But they have not. They were not so kind-hearted when they were small after all, and only so when they were much older and have got posts in the government and other agencies which had caused them to be so recognized by the King, Sultans and governors, when they are already too old to start to donate blood; and they can only now donate their time and views and perhaps some money to charitable bodies of their own choice.
Where are the Michael Chongs, Lam Thyes, Mother Mahadevans, and the other kind-hearted persons who have all been hailed as being the people with the most kind souls in the country?
And where are the Marinas? Where are those in Sisters-in-Islam?
I did not see anyone in politics in Barisan or Pakatan coming regularly to donate blood. I know it is not glamorous to do that. There is no media coverage for such deeds.
So they’d rather spend their time shouting and complaining as this can ensure that they are heard and seen. This is what matters the most to them, not donating blood which is a slow and quiet process, which the media hardly ever takes notice of.
Even the top blood donors of Malaysia are relatively unknown.
I don’t even know who they are.
The National Blood Center also does not have a gallery of photos of them anywhere on their bulletin boards.
Some of them had donated more than 400 times. Some of them have stopped donating blood after they are sixty years old.
But what did they get in return for all the blood that they had donated, which had benefited strangers? Nothing.
This is how the blood center, the ministry of health and government treat the top blood donors and the regular blood donors in the country like they are not needed. They are only useful if the hospitals need blood.
To the hospitals, they are their trusted blood production source; they are not important on their own. They can be forgotten.
They should be happy that they have a whole drawer of souvenir ballpoint pens, mugs, tie-pins and tee-shirts they had collected in the last few decades.
Former blood donors are useless, like they are not pedigree race-horses anymore when they were valued in the multi-millions of ringgit. Now in their retirement, they are not worth anything. They can only be used for horse-riding in circuses and the parks, while the sickly ones are conveniently put to sleep.
How many patients who are your relatives including your goodselves, who might have benefited from their charity.
They did not get much or anything other than a free meal after each donation, which does not cost more than two riinggit.
And sometimes, they also get souvenirs in the form of key-chains, tee-shirts, ballpoint pens and mugs.
I gave my souvenirs to friend and some of the staff at the center.
The ministers of health that we have had since Merdeka had also not been known to be a regular blood donor. They were appointed to the post for other reasons; one of which is he must be a MCA member.
The deputy minister of health today is Rosnah. She is the most unlikeliest person to be given the post. Why? She does not fit the bill.
SHE IS SIMPLY TOO BIG TO TAKE THE PART. She is obese. So she is setting such a bad example to anyone who wants to look good and keep themselves healthy.
She is probably the most awkward-looking deputy minister of health in the world.
Can’t they find another person who looks healthy to take up the post?
Farid Ariffin was once a deputy minister of health. He used to smoke like a chimney. But he immediately stopped smoking. He told me he did not take up any regime to force him to stop smoking without suffering from any withdrawal symptom. He invoked the power of the ‘Bismillah’.
And with such a short and simple incantation, he stopped smoking.
Even the new director of the center does not bother to visit the donation hall, unlike his predecessor, Hanim who often came by to speak with the donors.
The present director of the National Blood Center did not even have the courtesy of proposing to the ministry of health to get them to produce a documentary on the top blood donors of the country.
Is the reason being that she did not want them to be known, so some of the problems and issues that they had succeeded to sweep under the floor be exposed, or if she does not want the public and country to know who they are – the ordinary persons who are not asking for anything, who serve the community and the seriously sick, and some of them could be you or your close relatives who managed to survive in the end due to the charity of these blood donors who you don’t know or care for?
This can happen if the unknown top and regular blood donors are allowed a say to express their displeasure.
But my best bet is the blood center does not want the top blood donors any media exposure. They are only good when they are donating, but not interesting or good when they are not.
In fact, which country in the world that has highlighted their own top blood donors? Has any country in the world ever produced a special documentary to highlight them? Have they been put at their rightful places in their societies?
No.
The reason being the top and regular blood donors of any country are not important or interesting. They are not good role models.
They are just numbers to be cited by the directors of the blood centers and ministers of health when necessary to inform the country how many people are donating blood and how many more they want to get.
The present director is not known by any of the donors or seen by them.
If I have the authority, I would replace her with someone like Hanim or even Yasmin who was Hanim’s predecessor at the center who also made her interest to visit the donation hall.
The minister and sometimes his deputy came to the center for the World Blood Donors’ Day, on 16 June. But the donors are not invited to attend it not that they want to. Many of them won’t come unless if they are also donating blood that day.
How much financial allocation does the government and ministry of health allocates to the blood center to celebrate the World Blood Donors’ Day each year?And how much did they allocate to celebrate Hari Seniman or Artistes’ Day on 29 May? And why was the minister of information, communication and culture (KPKK) able to convince the government to offer the allocation when the ministry of health cannot?
The ministers of health and their deputies just didn’t care, because they did not think it was important to highlight the deeds of the top and regular blood donors in the country, because they and the senior staff of the center are also not the top and regular donors.
By Mansor Puteh
I HAVE NOT SEEN MANY DOCTORS AND MEDICAL AND NURSING STUDENTS DONATING BLOOD.
IN FACT, I HAVE NOT SEEN ANYONE FROM MERCY MALAYSIA, AMAN MALAYSIA, PUTERA 1MALAYSIA, AND THE OTHER HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS WHO HAVE DONATED BLOOD REGULARLY AT THE NATIONAL BLOOD CENTER OR PUSAT DARAH NEGARA.
THEY, WHO DARE TO GO TO THE TOP HOTSPOTS IN THE WORLD RISKING THEIR LIVES, YET, WHO HAD NOT BOTHERED TO START DONATING BLOOD WHEN THEY WERE STILL SMALL.
So this proves that the only reasons why they are in such humanitarian organizations doing all those things are because of personal ones; that they are what many are talking about. So they can get media attention and be seen as humanists.
But alas, they are humanists who do not care to donate blood which is a fairly simple thing to do as a life-long habit.
This is the sad tale of the many top and regular blood donors of Malaysia and how they are treated kindly when they are donating, but like retired pedigree race-horses and forgotten.
I was at Blood Center today, donating blood as usual and for the 329th time.
I could have become the top blood donor of Malaysia if I had not stopped donating for ten years when I was studying and living abroad and doing other things afterwards.
My blood type: O+. What’s yours? Have I seen you there at any time through the few decades I have been to the blood center?
Maybe I have.
But chances are those who have been coming to the center to donate blood over the years, sometimes every three months or even every two weeks as in my case, we might not have seen you.
I have seen only few people from the film industry; one of them is Accapan. Where are the others from this and the other industries?
And where are the kind-hearted ulama and those mentioned in the headline of this essay? And where are you?
There is no blogger who has been known to have been donating blood.
In fact, there is no Raja or Tengku or Tunku who has been sighted coming anywhere near the center.
I also did not see any Datuk, Tan Sri, much less Tun donating blood at the center.
Of course one cannot expect to see any Datuk, Tan Sri or Tun donating blood after they were given the titles. But if they were such kind-hearted persons, surely, they would have thought of donating blood when they were small.
But they have not. They were not so kind-hearted when they were small after all, and only so when they were much older and have got posts in the government and other agencies which had caused them to be so recognized by the King, Sultans and governors, when they are already too old to start to donate blood; and they can only now donate their time and views and perhaps some money to charitable bodies of their own choice.
Where are the Michael Chongs, Lam Thyes, Mother Mahadevans, and the other kind-hearted persons who have all been hailed as being the people with the most kind souls in the country?
And where are the Marinas? Where are those in Sisters-in-Islam?
I did not see anyone in politics in Barisan or Pakatan coming regularly to donate blood. I know it is not glamorous to do that. There is no media coverage for such deeds.
So they’d rather spend their time shouting and complaining as this can ensure that they are heard and seen. This is what matters the most to them, not donating blood which is a slow and quiet process, which the media hardly ever takes notice of.
Even the top blood donors of Malaysia are relatively unknown.
I don’t even know who they are.
The National Blood Center also does not have a gallery of photos of them anywhere on their bulletin boards.
Some of them had donated more than 400 times. Some of them have stopped donating blood after they are sixty years old.
But what did they get in return for all the blood that they had donated, which had benefited strangers? Nothing.
This is how the blood center, the ministry of health and government treat the top blood donors and the regular blood donors in the country like they are not needed. They are only useful if the hospitals need blood.
To the hospitals, they are their trusted blood production source; they are not important on their own. They can be forgotten.
They should be happy that they have a whole drawer of souvenir ballpoint pens, mugs, tie-pins and tee-shirts they had collected in the last few decades.
Former blood donors are useless, like they are not pedigree race-horses anymore when they were valued in the multi-millions of ringgit. Now in their retirement, they are not worth anything. They can only be used for horse-riding in circuses and the parks, while the sickly ones are conveniently put to sleep.
How many patients who are your relatives including your goodselves, who might have benefited from their charity.
They did not get much or anything other than a free meal after each donation, which does not cost more than two riinggit.
And sometimes, they also get souvenirs in the form of key-chains, tee-shirts, ballpoint pens and mugs.
I gave my souvenirs to friend and some of the staff at the center.
The ministers of health that we have had since Merdeka had also not been known to be a regular blood donor. They were appointed to the post for other reasons; one of which is he must be a MCA member.
The deputy minister of health today is Rosnah. She is the most unlikeliest person to be given the post. Why? She does not fit the bill.
SHE IS SIMPLY TOO BIG TO TAKE THE PART. She is obese. So she is setting such a bad example to anyone who wants to look good and keep themselves healthy.
She is probably the most awkward-looking deputy minister of health in the world.
Can’t they find another person who looks healthy to take up the post?
Farid Ariffin was once a deputy minister of health. He used to smoke like a chimney. But he immediately stopped smoking. He told me he did not take up any regime to force him to stop smoking without suffering from any withdrawal symptom. He invoked the power of the ‘Bismillah’.
And with such a short and simple incantation, he stopped smoking.
Even the new director of the center does not bother to visit the donation hall, unlike his predecessor, Hanim who often came by to speak with the donors.
The present director of the National Blood Center did not even have the courtesy of proposing to the ministry of health to get them to produce a documentary on the top blood donors of the country.
Is the reason being that she did not want them to be known, so some of the problems and issues that they had succeeded to sweep under the floor be exposed, or if she does not want the public and country to know who they are – the ordinary persons who are not asking for anything, who serve the community and the seriously sick, and some of them could be you or your close relatives who managed to survive in the end due to the charity of these blood donors who you don’t know or care for?
This can happen if the unknown top and regular blood donors are allowed a say to express their displeasure.
But my best bet is the blood center does not want the top blood donors any media exposure. They are only good when they are donating, but not interesting or good when they are not.
In fact, which country in the world that has highlighted their own top blood donors? Has any country in the world ever produced a special documentary to highlight them? Have they been put at their rightful places in their societies?
No.
The reason being the top and regular blood donors of any country are not important or interesting. They are not good role models.
They are just numbers to be cited by the directors of the blood centers and ministers of health when necessary to inform the country how many people are donating blood and how many more they want to get.
The present director is not known by any of the donors or seen by them.
If I have the authority, I would replace her with someone like Hanim or even Yasmin who was Hanim’s predecessor at the center who also made her interest to visit the donation hall.
The minister and sometimes his deputy came to the center for the World Blood Donors’ Day, on 16 June. But the donors are not invited to attend it not that they want to. Many of them won’t come unless if they are also donating blood that day.
How much financial allocation does the government and ministry of health allocates to the blood center to celebrate the World Blood Donors’ Day each year?And how much did they allocate to celebrate Hari Seniman or Artistes’ Day on 29 May? And why was the minister of information, communication and culture (KPKK) able to convince the government to offer the allocation when the ministry of health cannot?
The ministers of health and their deputies just didn’t care, because they did not think it was important to highlight the deeds of the top and regular blood donors in the country, because they and the senior staff of the center are also not the top and regular donors.
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