Miss Vietnam 2020 Do Thi Ha presents gifts to blood patients at the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusions. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Organisers expect to collect 50,000 blood units in theChu Nhat Do 2021 (Red Sunday), a blood donation campaign that will be kickedoff officially at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology in in thecapital on January 17.
Organised by Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper, the National Steering Committeeon Traffic Safety and the National Institute of Haematology and BloodTransfusions (NIHBT), the annual event aims to handle the shortage of blood foremergency and treatment during the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.
Le Xuan Son, Tien Phong newspaper editor in chief and head of the campaignorganising committee, said the Red Sunday campaign has become a national scaleevent with profound human significance, aiming to overcome blood shortagesduring the Lunar New Year period.
The event also aimed to call on organisations, State or private enterprises anda large number of people of different ages, regions, ethnic groups andprofessions to donate blood for the lives of patients who need bloodtransfusions, he added.
“We expect to receive 50,000 blood units from 80 blood donation festivals aspart of the Red Sunday 2021 campaign that will be organised in 43 provinces andcites nationwide from late December 2020 to March. As of January 6, theprogramme has collected nearly 11,272 blood units at 16 blood donationfestivals,” said Son at a press conference on January 7.
He 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 provincesand cities were unable to organise the blood donation festivals as planned.
According to Dr. Bach Quoc Khanh, Director of the National Institute ofHaematology and Blood Transfusion, the pressure to receive and supply bloodbefore, during and after Tet is always a constant concern for blood transfusionfacilities; especially for blood products like platelets that can only bestored for three to five days.
Khanh said that the institute provided blood and blood products to 180hospitals in 28 provinces and cities in the North. During Tet, the instituteneeds at least 50,000-55,000 units of blood, of which 36,000-41,000 units ofblood in January and about 16,000-18,000 units in February./.
VNA
