One hundred outstanding blood donors will be honoured at a ceremony on June 6 in Hà Nội on the occasion of the World Blood Donor Day (June 14).  —  Photo NIHBT

HÀ NỘI — One hundred outstanding Vietnamese blood donors will be honoured in a series of events in Hà Nội and Phú Thọ Province from Tuesday to Thursday to celebrate World Blood Donor Day (June 14).

The annual event is organised by the National Steering Committee for Voluntarily Blood Donation Mobilisation, to honour outstanding blood donors or people who have had great contributions to blood donation 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, Nguyễn Trí Hiếu from HCM City has donated blood 71 times.

This year, the event's organiser will also honor outstanding donors with rare blood types, including Nguyễn Đức Kiên, deputy head of the Hà Nội Rare Blood Types Club and Lâm Văn Vinh from HCM City Rare Blood Types Club.

They are also members of the Reserve Blood Donation clubs like Võ Phong Hầu from Phú Quốc Island District of Kiên Giang Province and Hoàng Xuân Thủy from Cát Hải island District, Hải Phòng City.     

On the occasion of the World Blood Donor Day, Hành trình đỏ (the Red Journey), the country’s largest scale blood donation mobilisation campaign, will begin on June 13 and run until July 28, 2019 with the participation of thousands of donors and volunteers in 39 provinces and cities across the country.

The Việt Nam Red Cross Society President Nguyễn Thị Xuân Thu said Red Journey was the country's largest communication campaign on blood donation that has taken place in 46 provinces and cities nationwide over the past six years.  

"Red Journey has collected more than 170,000 blood units, contributing to handling blood shortage situation during summer and saving the lives of thousands of needy patients,” said Thu.  

The National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion Director Bạch Quốc Khánh said the health sector received nearly 1.4 million blood units in 2018, of which 98.3 per cent was donated by voluntarily blood donors, making up 1.4 per cent of the population. — VNS