Director of the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) Bach Quoc Khanh, head of the festival organising board, said the event, held annually after the Lunar New Year holiday, aims to help ensure sufficient blood supply for medical use which, in the past, often faced a serious shortage after the country’s biggest and longest holiday.
First held in the spring of 2008, the festival has attracted hundreds of thousands of participants and received nearly 92,000 units so far. Most of localities nationwide and many agencies, businesses, and organisations have also organised annual blood donation activities on this occasion.
This year’s festival in Hanoi will last for nine days, until February 20, expected to attract 10,000 donors and receive about 7,000 blood units.
People can donate at the NIHBT headquarters on Pham Van Bach street of Cau Giay district, the three fixed blood donation locations (No. 26 on Luong Ngoc Quyen street, No. 132 on Quan Nhan street, and No. 10 of Alley 122 on Lang street), as well as the cultural centre of Gia Lam district.
At the festival opening ceremony, Meta - the company running Facebook - and the NIHBT debuted the Blood Donations feature on this social network in Vietnam. This feature will become operational on February 16, enabling donors to easily connect with blood reception facilities.
