HÀ NỘI — The National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) has collected nearly 10,300 units of blood from donors at the Lễ hội Xuân hồng 2018 (Red Spring 2018) blood donation festival in Hà Nội.

Organised by the NIHBT and the Hà Nội Steering Committee for Voluntarily Blood Donation Mobilisation, the year’s largest blood donation festival aims to collect at least 8,000 units of blood from 15,000 participants, mainly youth and students, from March 3 to 11.

“The annual festival has basically aimed to assist during the blood shortage for emergency aid and treatment at hospitals, as well as provide safe and sufficient blood for development of high medical techniques, such as organ transplants and cancer treatment, saving lives of patients with fatal diseases,” said Deputy Minister of Health Nguyễn Viết Tiến on Saturday.

Tiến also expressed his hope that humanitarian blood donations would be further expanded among each family, as well as the entire society in the coming years.

“The country experiences a blood supply shortage after the Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday due to the demand for blood being higher than our preserved amount,” said NIHBT director Bạch Quốc Khánh .

“Red Spring festival remains the best way to handle the situation. We organised this year’s event in many places in the city over nine days to offer more opportunities for donors to donate blood and to increase the quality of healthcare for donors,” said Khánh.

Trần Minh Đức, a teacher, travelled more than 100 kilometres from Thái Nguyên Province to Hà Nội to donate blood at the festival.

“I’m very excited to share my blood to help needy patients, and I’m very happy when I can do something useful,” said Đức.

Đức said that this is the 15th time he has donated blood since he was a student more than 10 years ago.

Đức said that he learned about the festival through his Facebook social network. He added that he will explain the benefits of voluntary blood donations with his students and friends to increase the community’s awareness about such humanitarian activities.  

The festival organisation board said more than 60,300 units of blood were collected from 190,000 participants during ten Xuân Hồng blood donation festivals, since the first festival was held in 2008.  Last year, the festival received more than 9,300 units of blood, compared to 9,000 units during the previous year. — VNS