This year's Independence Day mega camp drive brought together over 400 blood donation camps across the country, organised by a mix of hospitals, resident welfare associations, colleges, and corporate CSR teams, many of them timed around the August 15 long weekend.

Turnout varied by city, but the drive overall drew strong participation from first-time donors — a good number of camps reported that walk-ins without any prior registration made up a sizable share of the day's donations, helped along by on-site eligibility screening that let people find out on the spot whether they could donate.

Camp organisers consistently flagged the same lesson from this drive: camps that publicised their location and timing at least a week in advance, and made pre-registration available even though walk-ins were welcome, saw noticeably steadier turnout through the day rather than a rush at opening followed by a quiet afternoon.