Outstanding Vietnamese blood donors are honoured at a ceremony on August 28 in Hà Nội. — VNS Photo Thanh Hải

HÀ NỘI — One hundred Vietnamese blood donors were honoured at a ceremony on Sunday in Hà Nội.

The annual event was jointly organised by the Việt Nam Red Cross Society, the National Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation Mobilisation and the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion.

The event honours outstanding blood donors or people who have made great contributions to the voluntary blood donation movement in Việt Nam. It also aims to promote community awareness of blood safety and encourage people to regularly donate blood across the country.

Among the 100 outstanding donors, many have donated blood more than 60 times.

Ngô Văn Dư from HCM City even has donated blood 102 times.

Also from HCM City, Huỳnh Thanh Hùng has donated his blood 77 times while Nguyễn Hoàng Nhơn has 70 times and Phan Vũ Quốc Chinh 67 times.

Nguyễn Thế Kỷ from Lào Cai Province donated his blood 66 times, Nguyễn Văn Lâm, Police Department of Duyên Hải Town, Trà Vinh Province donated 63 times; Lâm Thành Trung from the Mobile Police Command, Ministry of Public Security, donated 61 times.

The event also honoured outstanding donors with rare blood types, including Nguyễn Thị Minh Hiếu from HCM City who donated her blood 38 times and Trần Sách Minh, a member of Northern Regional Rare Blood Group, who donated blood 15 times.

These are all members of the community with rare blood types, accounting for only 0.1 per cent of the Vietnamese population.

Delegates take a group photo with 100 outstanding blood donors. — VNS Photo Thanh Hải

Speaking at the ceremony President of the Việt Nam Red Cross Society Bùi Thị Hòa praised blood donation as a noble, humane and compassionate gesture.

“I express my gratitude and respectfully acknowledge the outstanding examples who have persistently and silently donated blood to spread acts of kindness to the community and society," she said.

"I hope all levels and sectors continue to pay attention and create conditions for individuals, groups and families to be willing to participate in blood donation, especially in times of natural disasters, epidemics and serious incidents."

According to the health sector, over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected blood collection and mobilisation.

However, the amount of blood received in 2021 still reached nearly 1.4 million blood units, of which 99 per cent are from voluntary blood donors, equivalent to nearly 1.5 per cent of the population participating in blood donation.

In the first six months of 2022, the whole country mobilised and received more than 850,000 blood units through various campaigns such as: Campaign for voluntary blood donation during Tết (Lunar New Year), Red Spring festival and People's Day of Voluntary Blood Donation April 7, the Red Blood Drops and Red Journey. — VNS