Public hospitals across Da Nang have been facing a dire shortage of blood for emergencies and treatment since the Lunar New Year holiday, especially after the onset of the coronavirus Covid-19.

A blood donor at the Hematology and Blood Transfusion Ward of the Da Nang General Hospital

Dr Pham Thi Ngoc Anh, Head of the Hematology and Blood Transfusion Ward of the Da Nang General Hospital, explained that the reason for the serious lack of blood in local public hospitals is that many voluntary blood donation campaigns in the city have been cancelled due to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak.

She added the blood bank of the Da Nang General Hospital now has only 690 units of blood. Hence, the hospital will be put on high alert in case its blood bank has only 500 units.

To ensure the enough blood supply for the hospital, the Hematology and Blood Transfusion Ward has appealed for local residents to participate in voluntary blood donation programmes at the hospital, and asked for help from voluntary blood donation clubs across the city.

Also, the ward is planning to implement a ‘blood exchange’ project. Accordingly, if a patient gets a blood transfusion, their relatives will donate some units of blood back to the hospital. However, under the project, the hospital collects only 10 units of blood per day, much lower than the amount of needy blood of 50 units per day.

Many voluntary blood donation clubs such as ‘Understanding and Loving’, ‘A family of Buddhist Followers’, ‘Beloved Heart’, and ‘Beloved Hands’ are the hospital’s main blood suppliers .

Mrs Le Thi Nhu Hong, Chairwoman of the city’s Red Cross Society, said her unit plans to organise smaller-scale voluntary blood donation campaigns to collect blood from 10-30 donors in the city instead of previous large-scale ones with up to 500 blood donors during the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak.

Besides, the unit will encourage members of voluntary blood donation clubs, government employees and students to donor blood in the coming time.

Amongst the blood donors at the hospital’s Hematology and Blood Transfusion Ward on Wednesday, Mr Tran Minh Nhat said he and his friends have donated blood many times. He noted the hospital is facing a critical shortage of blood. Therefore, he encouraged people in good health who have never given blood, particularly young people, to donate blood in order to help needy patients.

By XUAN SON - Translated by MAI DUNG