Woman donating blood as nurse monitors procedure in a hospital room.
Surat is India's diamond cutting capital, its synthetic textile hub, and a city that has transformed itself from a medieval port into one of India's fastest-growing modern economies.
It is also a city where blood donation has become something close to a civic institution.
Surat's Surat Raktadan Kendra and Research Centre (SRKRC) — a voluntary blood bank — has been at the centre of that transformation. The SRKRC provides more than 10,000 units of blood free annually to patients with thalassemia, sickle cell anaemia, haemophilia, and other disorders. It has been granted RBTC (Regional Blood Transfusion Centre) status by the Government of Gujarat. It is NABH accredited, ISO certified, and operates the largest blood storage centre in South Gujarat. It runs a stem cell bank approved by FDCA, offers PGDMLT courses affiliated with Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, and has been approved by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) as a research institution.
In other words: in a city famous for diamonds, Surat has also built one of India's most remarkable community blood institutions.
Gujarat is India's most consistent national blood donation award winner. The Red Cross Gujarat organisation has received the National Blood Donation Trophy — awarded by the President of India to the Red Cross State Branch with the highest voluntary donation — every year since 2000–2001.
The state has over 225 centurion donors — individuals who have donated blood 100 or more times. Its voluntary blood donation movement began with the India–China War of 1962, and it has been building for six decades since.
Surat sits within this tradition — but it has also developed a specifically Surati character to its blood donation culture, rooted in the city's commercial traditions of community philanthropy (charitable trusts, community hospitals, public institutions built from business success) and its diverse diamond, textile, and chemical sector employer base.
The SRKRC is worth examining in detail because it demonstrates what a community-committed blood institution can build over time.
What SRKRC does:
This breadth of function — from donor recruitment and collection to patient transfusion, education, research, stem cells, and chronic disease support — makes SRKRC one of the most comprehensive voluntary blood institutions in India.
Voluntary and Trust-Run:
Government:
Private Hospital Blood Banks:
Surat's economy is built on two distinct but massive industries: diamond cutting and synthetic textile manufacturing. Both employ enormous numbers of workers in organised settings.
The diamond sector: India processes approximately 90% of the world's diamonds, and Surat is the centre of that industry. Diamond units employ hundreds of thousands of skilled artisans — workers in a precision craft that requires physical health and good eyesight. The community culture of diamond merchants — largely from specific Kathiawari and Saurashtra trading communities — has strong traditions of charitable giving, often expressed through trusts and community institutions.
The textile sector: Surat's powerlooms and synthetic textile units employ a massive working-class population. The textile association and individual mill owners have historically contributed to community health infrastructure in Surat.
Both sectors represent corporate blood donation potential that SRKRC and the Red Cross Surat branch have cultivated over decades — and which could be further developed through systematic quarterly drives at major employers.
SRKRC's commitment to providing 10,000+ free blood units annually to thalassemia patients reflects the high thalassemia burden in South Gujarat. Gujarat has a significant thalassemia patient population — particularly in urban communities where carrier couples have married and produced children with thalassemia major.
The connection between Surat's voluntary donors and the city's thalassemia children is direct and personal. Donors who give at SRKRC know that their blood goes to children who need monthly transfusions to survive. The SRKRC maintains a thalassemia patient registry — the relationship between blood bank and patient community is not anonymous, which strengthens both donor motivation and institutional accountability.
Walk-in donations: SRKRC is the primary voluntary walk-in destination. New Civil Hospital (NCH) Blood Bank accepts walk-ins 24/7. Red Cross Surat Branch also accepts voluntary donors.
Camp schedule: SRKRC and Red Cross Surat organise camps across Surat's residential areas, industrial zones, and diamond sector workplaces. TheBloodApp lists upcoming camps in Surat and South Gujarat.
Corporate drives: Contact SRKRC to partner for a quarterly drive at your diamond unit, textile mill, pharmaceutical company, or corporate office.
For urgent blood in Surat, call the number listed in TheBloodApp.
Register on TheBloodApp in Surat today. Donate at SRKRC, NCH, or any licensed Surat blood bank. If you work in the diamond or textile sector — a community that already has traditions of giving — make blood donation part of that tradition. Gujarat's national trophy record was built one voluntary donor at a time. You are one of those donors. To find donation camps and blood banks across Gujarat, call the number listed in the app.
Sources: Surat Raktadan Kendra and Research Centre (SRKRC) | Red Cross Gujarat | PMC — Blood Transfusion Services Maharashtra and Gujarat | Wikipedia — Blood Donation India | Prathama Blood Centre Ahmedabad | WHO India Blood Safety 2024 | eRaktKosh MoHFW | NABH India
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