Ho Chi Minh City face a shortage of blood for medical treatment in the last two months of this year, according to Chairman of the city’s Red Cross Society Tran Truong Son.

Ho Chi Minh City will need an additional 60,000 bags of blood from now
to the end of the year to serve treatment in local hospitals.  

Speaking at a communication event on voluntary blood donation on November 19, Son said as of November 15, the city’s humanitarian blood donation centre had received 237,537 bags of blood, equivalent to 302,888 blood units, meeting 91.36 percent of the year’s target. The rate of clean blood was 98.55 percent.

This means the city will need an additional 60,000 bags of blood from now to the end of the year to serve treatment in local hospitals.

Besides, the blood transfusion centre of Cho Ray Hospital, which supplies blood for medical treatment for not only the hospital but also southeastern provinces, also lacks about 20,000 blood units from now to the end of the year.

 To address the shortage, the city’s steering board for humanitarian blood donation is organizing a communication campaign targeting people from all walks of life from November 15 to December 15 to encourage blood donation.

The humanitarian blood donation centre will coordinate with the city’s trade union of State employees to mobilise 10,000 persons to donate blood.