Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) celebrating Inception Day today

Kathmandu, Sept 4: The Inception Day of the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) is being celebrated with various programmes under the slogan 'In Support of Humanity'.

Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) came into being on September 4, 1963. It was recognized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 1964 and affiliated to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in the same year. 

NRCS has, over the years, grown to be the largest humanitarian organization in Nepal, with its network of District Chapters (DCs) extended in each of the 77 districts of the country. 

District Chapters receive organisational support from 1,554 Sub-Chapters and more than 153 Co-operation Committees under them. A significant portion of its activities is also borne by students and youth volunteers of Nepal Junior and Youth Red Cross Circles organised at schools, campuses and communities. At present, NRCS owns 6,538 J/Y Red Cross Circles.

NRCS Officiating Executive Director, Dharmadatta Bidari, said that there are more than 1.1 million volunteers engaged in humanitarian service under NRCS.

He stated that the Nepal Red Cross, guided by the motto 'I serve', has been carrying out various humanitarian activities throughout the country such as organisational development, junior and youth development, disaster and crisis management, community development, gender and inclusion, promotion of humanitarian values and Red Cross principles, health services, and blood donation and transfusion services in support of the government. 

Officiating Executive Director Bidari said that last year, relief materials were distributed to 4,906 families affected by floods, landslides, fires and cold waves in various parts of the country.

Additionally, NRCS provided cash assistance totalling Rs 122 million 420 thousand 904 rupees to 5,033 families for disaster preparedness action, recovery, response and livelihood.

As part of the preparation for emergency situations, the NRCS has made arrangements for the storage of necessary rescue and relief materials at one central warehouse, six provincial warehouses, and five regional warehouses, as well as at all district chapters.

Similarly, NRCS is operating blood transfusion service centres at 120 places in 73 districts of the country, including at the central, regional, district level and emergency blood transfusion service. NRCS has successfully collected 294,848 units of blood through its blood collection and transfusion service and provided 402,510 units of blood and blood components to patients.

It has been providing blood collection and transfusion services from its newly-constructed modern building of the Central Blood Transfusion Service at the Exhibition Road in Kathmandu. The building was constructed with the support of the Thai Red Cross.

Likewise, under the ambulance service NRCS is running 242 ambulances from 196 locations through 65 branches, sub-branches, and circles. It has provided ambulance services to approximately 86,400 patients and injured individuals in the past year.

This year, 3012 individuals have directly benefited from the first aid activities conducted by the organisation. 

Two hundred ninety-five thousand five hundred and twenty people have received services from the NRCS-run Janaki Eye Hospital, Surkhet Eye Hospital, and various community eye treatment centres across the country, NRCS stated in a news release it issued on the occasion of its Inception Day today. (RSS)