Miss Việt Nam 2020 Đỗ Thị Hà presents gifts to blood patients at the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusions. — Photo Công Thắng

HÀ NỘI — Organisers expect to collect 50,000 blood units in the Chủ Nhật Đỏ 2021 (Red Sunday), a blood donation campaign that will be kicked off officially at the Hà Nội University of Science and Technology in Hà Nội on January 17.

Organised by Tiền Phong (Vanguard) newspaper, the National Steering Committee on Traffic Safety and the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusions (NIHBT), the annual event aims to handle the shortage of blood for emergency and treatment during the Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday.  

Lê Xuân Sơn, Tiền Phong newspaper editor in chief and head of the campaign organising committee, said the Red Sunday campaign has become a national scale event with profound human significance, aiming to overcome blood shortages during the Lunar New Year period.

“The event also aimed to call on organisations, State or private enterprises and a large number of people of different ages, regions, ethnic groups and professions to donate blood for the lives of patients who need blood transfusions.”

“We expect to receive 50,000 blood units from 80 blood donation festivals as part of the Red Sunday 2021 campaign that will be organised in 43 provinces and cites nationwide from late December 2020 to March. As of January 6, the programme has collected nearly 11,272 blood units at 16 blood donation festivals,” said Tiền Phong newspaper editor in chief Lê Xuân Sơn at a press conference on Thursday.

Sơn added that the Red Sunday 2020 campaign received nearly 47,000 blood units. The COVID-19 pandemic occurred after Lunar New Year holiday so many provinces and cities were unable to organise the blood donation festivals as planned.

According to Dr. Bạch Quốc Khánh, Director of the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, the pressure to receive and supply blood before, during and after Tết is always a constant concern for blood transfusion facilities; especially for blood products like platelets that can only be stored for three to five days.

“From the success of "Red Sunday" over the past few years, we call on organistions and communities not only to actively donate blood at this time, but if eligible, to donate platelets to ensure blood and other blood products for patients,” said Khánh.

Khánh said that the institute provided blood and blood products to 180 hospitals in 28 provinces and cities in the North. During Tết, the institute needs at least 50,000-55,000 units of blood, of which 36,000-41,000 units of blood in January and about 16,000-18,000 units in February.

"Every drop of blood for us is a drop of life. Many sick people live mainly on the blood donated by the donor community. The lives of me and thousands of other sick people depend greatly on the hearts of donors who silently donated blood and platelets. I hope Red Sunday will bring meaningful drops of life to the community for our sick people,” said Nguyễn Trọng Hùng, 36, a blood cancer patient from central Nghệ An Province.— VNS