Nearly 70 blood donation points nationwide for Tet

Speaking at the ceremony, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Uong Chu Luu expressed his admire to the donors and his hope that blood donation will reach further in the community, thus helping ease the shortage of the life-ensuring liquid, especially at major hospitals.

The current drive was launched on December 26 in Hanoi, expected to collect about 50,000 blood units during the 2019 Chu Nhat Do (Red Sunday).

The annual event is organised by Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper, the National Steering Committee on Traffic Safety and the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusions (NIHBT).

It was first held in 2008 for one Sunday in Hanoi, hence the name.

The campaign is an effort to ease the blood supply shortage in hospitals throughout the country during the holidays.

The one-month long event will take place in 39 provinces and cities across the country, including the main festival in Hanoi on January 6. Many localities have registered to collect thousands of blood units such as Hanoi (6,000), HCM City (3,000) and Dak Lak (3,800).

In the first year of the drive, there was only one place to collect blood with 96 units donated, but the figures recorded last year were 60 and over 47,000, respectively. Donors are of various age groups, regions and jobs, most of them youth.