HÀ NỘI — Organisers expect to collect about 50,000 blood units during the 2019 Chủ Nhật Đỏ (Red Sunday), a blood donation drive which was launched on Wednesday in Hà Nội.

The annual event is organised by Tiền Phong (Vanguard) newspaper, the National Steering Committee on Traffic Safety and the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusions (NIHBT).

The event was first held in 2008 for one Sunday in Hà Nội, hence the name.

The campaign is an effort to ease the blood supply shortage in hospitals throughout the country during the Tết (lunar New Year) holidays. 

The one-month long event will take place in 39 provinces and cities across the country with nearly 70 blood collection events, including the main festival in Hà Nội on January 6, 2019. Many localities have registered to collect thousands of blood units such as Hà Nội (6,000), HCM City (3,000) and Đắk Lắk (3,800).

Speaking at press conference on Wednesday in Hà Nội, NIHBT director Dr Bạch Quốc Khánh said the need of blood for emergency and treatment at hospitals increases during the last months of the year.

“From the beginning of December, many blood transfusion centres, especially in Hà Nội and HCM City, have announced blood shortages and called on the community for help,” said Khánh.

Tiền Phong newspaper Editor in Chief Lê Xuân Sơn speaks at the press conference on Wednesday in Hà Nội. — VNS Photo Thanh Hải

“Red Sunday has played an important role in health care activities of the health sector, especially in handling blood shortages during summer and Tết periods,” said Khánh.

Khánh said that in January 2019, the country would need 150,000 units of blood for medical treatment.

The newspaper’s editor in chief Lê Xuân Sơn said that Red Sunday aimed to promote voluntary blood donation and change thinking about blood donation.

“It (Red Sunday) mobilises volunteers to donate blood for emergency, treatment before, during and after Tết at all health facilities throughout the country,” said Sơn.

According to Sơn, blood collection from Red Sunday events has increased remarkably over the past five years, from 8,419 units in 2014 to 47,766 units in 2018. More than 123,000 blood units were collected over the past 10 Red Sunday events.

The NIHBT statistics showed that the country has collected 1.4 million units of blood nationwide, equivalent to 1.6 per cent of population to donate blood in 2018. Collected blood has met over 60 per cent of the country’s demand of blood for emergency, examination and reservation. — VNS