One hundred voluntary blood donors who made special contribution to blood donation were honored during a ceremony held on June 14th by the National Steering Committee on voluntary blood donation.

At the ceremony (Photo: CPV)

The ceremony was part of activities celebrating World Blood Donor Day (June 14th).

According to the organising committee, many people donated blood over 60 times, including Nguyen Huu Thuan (84 times), Ta Minh Dat (71 times), Nguyen Trung Tuan and Venerable Thich Thien Anh (63 times), Pham Van Thanh and Truong Van Tai (62 times).

Addressing the ceremony, Truong Thi Mai, Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee (PCC) and Head of the PCC Commission on Mass Mobilization, praised blood donors as “heroes of patients”.

She said she hoped the recognised blood donors would continue to donate blood and encourage the others to donate blood, contributing to protecting and caring for people’s health.

She also urged Party organizations and authorities to create favourable conditions for the steering committees on blood donation at all levels to operate efficiently. In addition, ministries, agencies and unions were urged to encourage their staff to participate in blood donation while the Ministry of Health (MoH) was requested to study the building of legal regulations for blood donation.

Showing her respect over the donations, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said the collected amount of blood had satisfied 60% of demand for first-aid and treatment. “If there are no blood donors, the treatment cannot be carried out and patients cannot be saved,” she said.

Expressing deep thanks to blood donors, she stressed that donating blood many times to save patients was an admirable deed.

World Blood Donor Day was celebrated for the first time in 2004 and now is held annually in many countries all over the world.

This year, the World Health Organization has chosen the Netherlands to host a global event on World Blood Donor Day with the theme “Blood connects us all”./.

( Compiled by VNF )