VietNamNet Bridge – Weaknesses in blood drive organisations have driven voluntary donors away from giving blood, health experts have said.


HTML clipboard Local people donate their blood in HCM City's Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion. Severe blood shortages have been reported at several hospitals. (Photo: VNS)
Figures from the Ministry of Health showed that the blood transfusion safety programme collected more than 670,430 blood units last year, an increase of 12.3 per cent compared to the previous year. However, it could only meet 42 per cent of the country's hospital demands.


Severe blood shortage has been reported at many hospitals, especially during Tet and summer vacations when blood donors, who are often students, are busy with examinations or have returned to their home villages.


Festival launched today

A blood donation festival entitled Healthy Heart: Donating Blood to Save People, was launched today in Ha Noi as part of the humanitarian blood donation activities nationwide.

The event was organised by the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion and Ha Noi's Steering Committee on Voluntary Blood Donations.

The month-long festival is expected to attract thousands of donors.

Chairman of the Ha Noi Red Cross Ngo Tien Dung said many people came to donate blood at a meeting last week. Initial figures showed that the city Youth Union collected 9,233 blood units, authorities from grassroot levels collected 5,294 units, universities and colleges collected 3,918 units, and the town of Son Tay collected 849 units.

The city set a target to collect 95,000 blood units this year.

More than 83,000 units were collected during last years' festival.

Director of the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion Nguyen Anh Tri said the collected blood units, which increased 15 per cent on average annually, remained quite low. Thus, it was far from meeting the demand for emergency treatments.

Nguyen Duc Thuan, director of the Viet Nam Red Cross's Blood Centre, said although many people joined campaigns, such as the Red Spring Festival and the Humanitarian Blood Donation Day, the organisations failed to maintain consistent volunteerism. They often forced voluntary donors to wait for hours before giving blood or failed to give them proper refreshments. The blood transfusion institute's deputy director Pham Tuan Duong added that many donors refused to wait for extensive periods of time and eventually would leave before giving blood.


Moreover, Duong said blood selling activities, which remain legal in Viet Nam, may affect blood quality and discourage people from giving blood.

"Some blood donors have become blood sellers for money," he said.

Health experts suggested that voluntary blood donation activities must be developed effectively to attract more people.


In addition, blood trading should be minimised and eventually eliminated to ensure only high-quality blood is used for patients.


VietNamNet/Viet Nam News