Students donate blood for patients needing transfusions at the festival in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The National Institute of Haematology
and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) collected more than 9,300 units of blood from
donors on February 18 in Hanoi.
The blood donations occurred during the 10th Xuan Hong (Red
Spring) festival, the year’s largest blood donation event.
The donations have brought the total collected blood to more than
60,000 units, each containing 350ml, donated during ten festivals since 2008.
Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long
highlighted the blood drive as an important milestone in the development of
voluntary blood donation movement in Vietnam.
“The Xuan Hong festival is very different from the many cultural
and sport activities in the country during the spring season. It is the only
festival where people come together to share feelings and their
responsibilities to patients by donating blood to save lives,” said Long.
“The festival helped ease the situation of blood shortages during
the Tet (Lunar New Year) period, saving the lives of thousands of patients over
the past nine years,” said Long.
Long noted that the festivals changed the public’s knowledge and
behaviour about blood donations, creating a new tradition of donating blood
during the New Year period.
Praising contributions by blood donors, mainly the young and
students, as well as the NIHBT’s programme over the past nine years, Long
called upon the public and authorities to continue to regularly donate blood,
not only at Xuan Hong, but also many other times during the year to save more
patients who need blood transfusions.
NIHBT Director Dr. Nguyen Anh Tri said that the event
contributed to easing blood shortages following the Tet (Lunar New Year) period
and to strengthen community awareness about voluntary blood donations.
“The festival model has been expanded throughout many provinces
and cities nationwide, and no hospital reported blood shortages during the Tet
period,” said Tri.
Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, a Thalassemia patient, noted that she used to
wait many days for blood transfusions at the NIHBT.
“The Xuan Hong festival has ended the situation of blood
shortages. I now do not have to wait for blood anymore,” said Thuy.
The festival organisation board said more than 51,000 units of
blood were collected during the nine Xuan Hong
festivals. Last year, the festival received 9,079 blood units,
compared to 5,225 units in 2015.
According to the Ministry of Health’s statistics, the country
collected more than 1.4 million units of blood in 2016, equivalent to 1.5 per
cent of the country’s population donating blood. The collected blood has met
more than 60 per cent of the country’s emergencies, treatments and preventive
demands.
Additionally, the health sector has set a goal to collect at least
1.7 million units of blood in 2017.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
