Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Organisersexpect to collect 45,000 - 50,000 blood units on Chu Nhat Do 2022 (RedSunday), a blood donation campaign that will officially open at the People’sPolice Academy in Hanoi on January 16.

The annual event will be organisedby Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper, the National Committee forTraffic Safety, and the National Institute of Haematology and BloodTransfusions (NIHBT), in more than 40 provinces and cities across the country.

It aims to handle the shortageof blood for emergency and treatment periods during and after the Tet(Lunar New Year) holiday.  

Le Xuan Son, Editor-in-Chiefof Tien Phong newspaper, head of the organising committee,said that 2022 would be much more difficult due to the pandemic situation,but Tien Phong newspaper and its companions would do theirbest for the sake of patient life, as with the past 13 Red Sundaycampaigns.

“We will have to change the way oforganisation, and be faster and more flexible, instead of organising large,crowded voluntary blood donation events. We will also organise more blooddonation points on a smaller scale in efforts to reach the target of collecting45,000 - 50,000 blood units,” said Son.

Dr. Bach Quoc Khanh, Director of theNational Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, said NIBHT usuallyreceived 30,000 units of blood every month to supply to hospitals in thenorth. However, the hospital had recently received only 25,000 to 28,000units of blood in the period near the Lunar New Year.

"The closer Tet comes, the morethe health sector and patients worry about blood shortages. The NIHBT needs atleast 50,000 blood units in the first two months of the year 2022," hesaid.

However, with the blood donationschedules already in place, we are still short of 15,000 units of blood and2,000 platelet units. Just one more unit of blood, or one more unit of plateletwhile Tet is approaching is a valuable lifesaver for the patient."

In 2021, due to the pandemic, manyblood donation events were cancelled, and the 2021 Red Sunday festivalmobilised more than 61,000 blood units in 43 provinces and cities, compared to96 blood units collected at the first Red Sunday in 2009.

Last year, the health sectorreceived more than 1.3 million blood units donated from voluntary donorsacross the country./.