Thousands of students from various universities in Hanoi participated in a voluntary blood donation campaign at the Hanoi University of Technology on January 25 as part of the ongoing ‘Red Sunday’ festival nationwide.

Speaking at the event , Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said more efforts need to be made to further promote voluntary blood donation movements, including raising public awareness and keeping blood transfusion safe .

Phuc joined volunteers in signing to show determination in promoting voluntary blood donation , making the Red Sunday develop further in the coming time.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, who is also head of the National Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation, quoted the World Health Organsisation’s statistics saying that Vietnam needs minimum 1.8 million blood units to save patients.

However, the country has yet to meet the demand, she noted, adding that the ministry has been working for a more modern blood donation centres nationwide to improve the situation.

Also on January 25, more than 1,300 youngsters in the central province of Nghe An donated nearly 1,000 blood units in response to the national campaign.

In 2014, local youths organised over 60 blood donation drives, collecting over 19,370 blood units for the needy.

At the same time, more than 700 students and young people in the central province of Khanh Hoa also gathered in Nha Trang city to join the Red Sunday campaign, which is being held for the first time in the locality, donating about 500 units of blood.
Last year, the province collected about 12,680 blood units from 16,000 people via 85 blood donation drives.

This year, the “Red Sunday” festival, the seventh of its kind, is scheduled to take place in 18 cities and provinces across the country between January and February . About 15,000 blood units are expected to be collected during the event.

The blood donation events in response to the festival have been held in the provinces of Nam Dinh , Vinh Phuc and Thanh Hoa , with more than 1,500 units of blood collected .-VNA