39 cities and provinces respond to ‘Red Sunday’ blood donation programme

The annual ‘Red Sunday’ blood donation programme will take place in 39 cities and provinces across the country on January 6, 2019, heard a press conference held in Hanoi on December 26.

The one-month festival is expected to see the collection of 50,000 blood units.
The one-month festival is expected to see the collection of 50,000 blood units.

The one-month festival is expected to see the collection of 50,000 blood units.

Speaking at the press conference, Professor Bach Quoc Khanh, Director of the National Institute for Haematology and Blood Transfusion, said 1.4 million blood units have been collected in 2018, equivalent to 60% of blood demand for ambulance services.

In an effort to avoid a shortage during the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet) holidays, the institute needs to collect around 150,000 blood units, to provide for medical facilities in the northern region.

Le Xuan Son, Editor-in-chief of Tien Phong newspaper and Head of the 2018 event’s organising board, said that, since it was first launched by the newspaper in 2009, the ‘Red Sunday’ voluntary blood donation festival has become an annual and influential event among the community.

Starting from only 96 blood units gathered in the first edition, the festival received 47,766 blood units during the 2018 event, which was observed in 31 cities and provinces nationwide.