Trần Nam Quân, a 62-year-old man in Giồng Riềng District of the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta’s Kiên Giang Province, has donated blood more than 70 times. — Photo NIHBT

HÀ NỘI — Trần Nam Quân, a 62-year-old man in in Giồng Riềng District of the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta’s Kiên Giang Province, has donated blood more than 70 times. However, for him, each blood donation always has its own beautiful memory.

“I donated blood for the first time in HCM City in 1989 when blood donation was not popular, it was even a strange activity. So, I did my first blood donation as a test,” said Quân.

“There was also a time in the hospital when I unexpectedly saw a patient who needed a blood transfusion urgently. Thank God, I have the same blood type as him – type A. That’s why I quickly decided to help him.”

Quân said that blood cannot be produced, but blood can be donated from healthy people. So, when someone needed blood, he was always ready to give at anytime and anywhere to save their lives.

"When I saw a patient in need of blood and between ‘life and death’, I asked myself what I should do in that situation! Then, I decided to donate blood regularly.”

Quân decided to join a blood bank club in the province. The club united many voluntary blood donors like Quân who are willing to donate blood to those in need. There are many times Quân and his friends in the club drove tens of kilometres, day or night, to help patients in need of blood.

Quân is one of 100 outstanding blood donors to 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).

Many of them have donated blood more than 60 or 70 times, such as: Trần Thi Mai from Khánh Hòa with 95 blood donations; Trần Nam Quân (Kiên Giang, 70 times); Trần Văn Can (Tây Ninh, 62 times); Trần Quốc Chánh (An Giang, 60 times) and Đặng Thanh Phương (71 times); Nguyễn Bá Học (70 times), Nguyễn Văn Tú (64 times) and Nguyễn Minh Hải (61 times) from HCM City.

This year, the event's organiser will also honour outstanding donors with rare blood types, including Nguyễn Thị Hạnh, Deputy Chairman of the Club of the Northern Blood-type Rare People, donating rare blood type B Rh (D) negative 19 times; and Lưu Ngọc Dung from HCM City donating the blood type AB Rh (D) negative 39 times.

“Over the past years, we’ve organised many activities to honour outstanding individuals, families and groups who have donated blood and mobilised relatives, friends and strangers to donate blood. This shows the respect and recognition of the whole society for the great contributions of the blood donors who do not care about the time, whether day or night, in disasters or epidemics, always ready to donate blood to save lives," said President of the Việt Nam Red Cross Society Nguyễn Thị Xuân Thu.

Some 100 outstanding 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). — Photo NIHBT

The annual event is organised by the National Steering Committee for Voluntarily Blood Donation Mobilisation to honour outstanding blood donors or people who have made 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.

On the occasion of World Blood Donor Day, Hành trình đỏ (the Red Journey), the country’s largest scale blood donation mobilisation campaign runs from June 6 until August 8 with the participation of thousands of donors and volunteers in 42 provinces and cities nationwide with a goal to receive 80,000 units of blood.

Launched in 2013, the Red Journey has received more than 250,000 units of blood, taking place in 50 provinces and cities. It has contributed to promoting communication, raising awareness about voluntary blood donation, and promoting the blood donation movement more effectively and sustainably. It is also an opportunity to increase communication about congenital haemolytic disease and train and maintain a volunteer force for the blood donation movement.

Director of the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Bạch Quốc Khánh, said the COVID-19 pandemic had deep impacts on many aspects of ​​the life and the blood transfusion service. While the pandemic continues, the amount of blood collected is still not enough.

“Right now, many developed countries are facing blood shortages. Only a safe and regular source of blood donors can help blood transfusion services overcome risks and challenges from natural disasters and epidemics. The success of the Red Journey in recent years has showed an effective solution in maintaining a safe, stable and sustainable source of blood donors in Việt Nam,” said Khánh.

In 2019, the health sector received over 1.4 million units of blood. Up to 99 per cent of collected blood was donated by voluntary donors, equivalent to nearly 1.5 per cent of the population. The rate of repeat blood donation reached 45.2 per cent while the percentage of blood units of 350ml and above increased to over 44 per cent. — VNS