HÀ NỘI — Organisers expect to collect at least 50,000 units of blood during the Chủ Nhật Đỏ 2020 (Red Sunday), a blood donation festival, which will kick off on Sunday (December 22) 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 12th Red Sunday 2020 is scheduled to take place in 40 provinces and cities nationwide from mid-December 2019 to the end of January 2020 and receive at least 50,000 units of blood,” said Lê Xuân Sơn, head of the organisation board and editor-in-chief of the newspaper at a press conference on Wednesday in Hà Nội.

“I am glad that every year there are more provinces and cities participating in the event with increasing numbers of students from many universities and localities,” said Sơn.

“We will prolong the event till the end of January 2020 with an aim to collect blood to serve the increasing demand of blood after the Tết (Lunar New Year) festival,” added Sơn.

Lê Xuân Sơn, head of the organisation board and editor-in-chief of Tiền Phong (Vanguard) newspaper speaks at a press conference on Wednesday in Hà Nội. — Photo tienphong.vn

According to Sơn, blood collection from Red Sunday events has increased remarkably over the past 11 years, from 8,419 units in 2014 to nearly 50,000 units in 2019. More than 160,000 blood units were collected over the past 11 Red Sunday events.

“During this year’s blood donation campaign we encouraged people to donate larger volumes of blood, from 250ml to 350ml and 450ml,” said the National Blood Centre deputy director Trần Ngọc Quế.

Quế said that frequent and repeated blood donations and large volumes are safe as recommended by the World Health Organisation. The country each year needs around 1.9 million units of blood, while the collected amount currently meets 75 per cent of the country’s demand. The health sector expected to collect 1.4 million units in 2019.

“During the Tết holiday, the country needed about 300,000 units of blood. We hope that the amount of collected blood will increase during the Red Sunday festival”.

The National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion said that many localities across the country are facing blood shortages for treatment, especially blood types O and A. The situation would be more serious during and after the Tết holiday. — VNS