“Red Sunday 2012” in Vietnam Hanoi Collects 350 Units of Blood

A blood donation campaign entitled “Red Sunday 2012” in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi Jan 8 collected more than 350 units of blood from voluntary donors, down 75% from a year ago. The annual event is aimed to mobilize local residents to donate blood to save patients’ lives and ease the shortages at hospitals during the upcoming Lunar New Year Festival or Tet holiday. Blood collected during the event is just in time to ease the risk of shortages for emergencies and treatments in Hanoi hospitals during Tet holiday, experts said, adding that the hospitals still need around 5,000 units of blood for emergencies during the festive season. Vietnam needs around 4,500 units of blood for emergencies and treatments per day. The blood bank only meets between 30%-40% of the nation’s demand at all times and only 10%-15% during the Tet period, they added. Experts also proposed to build one more blood center in Vietnam because neighboring countries like Thailand and Laos have tens of such centers while Vietnam now has only one. The health sector predicted that the country will need 900,000 units of blood in 2012. Nearly 770,000 units were collected in 2011, up 15% from the previous year. (Vietnam News Jan 9, Suc Khoe & Doi Song - Health & Life Jan 9)