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| A local donates blood during a campaign organised by the HCM City Blood Donation Centre. — Photo hienmaunhandao.org.vn |
Viet Nam News
HCM CITY — The HCM City chapter of the Vietnamese Red Cross Society yesterday began a two-month-long blood donation campaign to ensure there is no shortage at the city’s hospitals during the upcoming holidays.
It expects to collect 52,000 units of blood by the time the campaign ends on March 10, Trần Trường Sơn, its chairman, said.
The Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union and the HCM City Labour Federation would respectively call on 2,500 students and 2,000 workers to donate blood, he said.
Phù Chí Dũng, director of the HCM City Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, said the four-day New Year holiday and nine-day Tết holiday could lead to a severe shortage of blood for medical emergency and treatment of diseases.
The institute provides an average of 600-800 units to hospitals in the city every day, according to Dũng.
It is estimated 10,000 units would be needed for emergencies during the New Year holiday but the blood bank has only 4,000 units available.
During Tết, 15,000 units are likely to be needed.
The demand for blood is rising by 10-20 per cent annually.
This year a total of 230,000 units were supplied to hospitals compared to 210,000 units last year.
The Red Cross’s voluntary donation campaign is one of major sources of blood collection in the city. —VNS
