Blood shortage eased for Tet Holiday

Concerns over blood shortages have been eased thanks to blood donation programmes held throughout the country for the Tet Holiday.

A woman donated blood at the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion

Director of the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion Bach Quoc Khanh said they usually set the goal to collect 25,000 units of blood for Tet but it proved to be a hard task as the hospital used at least 1,500 units each day. This year, they received 38,000 units in January and many people have continued to come to hospitals to donate blood in the past weeks.

Currently, they are having 16,000 units of blood in reserve, 40% of which are blood type O, and this is enough to use until three weeks after the Tet Holiday. This is the result of constant efforts from health facilities and responses from the public. Patients will not have to worry about shortage during the holiday.

Khanh expressed gratitude to everyone who had heeded the call and donated their blood. 70% of the donors are students and the rest are office workers. In summer, the students will return home or go on holiday so there will be more regular blood donation programmes to encourage more donors.

After Tet, the Pink Spring Festival will be held to increase the blood reserve for the lunar new year. However, this year the festival will be held for a week instead of one or two days. It is hoped that the hospitals will be able to collect 1,000 to 2,000 units each day.

Khanh said they would set up programmes to take care of the donors and set up at least two blood donation points outside of the hospitals to make it more convenient.