Salman Khan's 'Being Human' aims to save lives through healthcare

He may come across as a macho image in his films like 'Dabangg' and Television advertisements, but there is also a human side to this bollywood superstar that comes across through his 'Being human' foundation which has been striving to alleviate the suffering of underprivileged through its social initiatives.

The Being Human Foundation has partnered with Marrow Donor Registry India (MDRI) to create a world class registry of marrow donors in India for patients who have blood-related illnesses like leukemia, thalessemia, aplastic anaemia and congenital immunodeficiency states.

MDRI was set up in 2008 as an NGO at the Tata Memorial Centre with the sole purpose of creating a registry of committed, voluntary and unrelated donors for those patients requiring bone marrow transplantation and without an HLA-matched donor within their families. However, for the registry to be functional, more than one lakh donors need to be registered. People from the age group of 18-50 years are eligible for donor recruitment.

MDRI and Being Human have reached out to generation next by working with colleges to create awareness of the need for a world-class registry in India.

One of the first colleges to participate in this initiative is KJ Somaiya Institute of Engineering and IT, Sion, who as part of their annual college festival, Surge'11, conducted a marrow donation drive on their college premises along with 'Marrowthon', a 6 km run showing support for the cause.

Stressing on the need for more committed donors, MDRI spokesperson said, "We are glad KJ Somaiya has come forward. We hope that this will pave the way for more colleges and their students to come forth and register with MDRI and thus make their contribution towards saving many more lives." Surge'11 will be held from March 3 to 5, 2011.

On February 23, a class to class presentation was conducted for the in house college students who come forward to show their whole hearted support towards the cause and a whopping 335 names have already been added to the registry in a single day.

For now students are encouraged to step forward to volunteer to give someone a tomorrow - 'Just 10 ml of your blood could save a life - Be Human.'