Largest blood donation festival collects 8,000 blood units

The festival, the 16th of its kind, is scheduled to last for a week till February 12 at seven venues across the capital, according to organisers – the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) and the Hanoi Youth Association for Blood Donation.

Organisers had previously received more than 4,000 units of blood donated by Vietnamese people in activities in response to the Red Spring Festival for the first five days of February 2023.

The NIHBT had received nearly 57,000 units of blood donated for the past two months, helping to maintain 12,000 units before and after the recent week-long lunar New Year holiday, said Assoc. Prof. & Dr. Nguyen Ha Thanh, director of the NIHBT.

Along with the Red Spring Festival and upcoming blood donation schedules, the Institute hopes to ensure blood supply to more than 180 hospitals in northern Vietnam moving forward, said the professional.

Blood is in short supply at hospital during the lunar New Year holiday, and the Red Spring Festival was launched in 2008 to address the blood shortage nationwide.

The festival has since been held annually, gathering between 8,000 and 10,000 units of blood each for treatment.

After 15 years, the festival has attracted hundreds of thousands of donors with more than 100,000 blood units collected, contributing to overcoming the shortage of blood for treatment after the New Year break.