Vice Chairman of the Bac Giang provincial People’s Committee Le Anh Duong presents the gift to the poor patient under hematology treatment at the Internal Department of Kidney Urology – Dialysis in the provincial General Hospital.

The event was attended by Le Anh Duong, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, Head of the provincial Steering Board for voluntary blood donation (VBD); Le Lam, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, Vice Head of the VBD National Steering Board.

The festival for sharing

Joining into the blood waiting donors, we easily found Duong Ngo Duc, a student of Bac Giang University of Agriculture and Forestry who has donated his blood for 10 times. Also, Duc is an active member of Bac Giang Blood Club and served 3 Red Journey campaigns.

Cheerfully, he shared: “I almost forget that my latest blood donation was 2 months ago so I will participate in the next event. After each donation, I feel a good action to be done that keeps inspiring me to call for more participation from my relatives and friends”.

Besides the familiar faces, the VBDF attracted many first comers such as Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, the staff of the provincial Labor Federation. She revealed her hesitation when being called to donate the blood because of the concern that blood giving would badly impact on her health. However, the volunteers provided her with several instructions about the safety of blood donation as well as the community responsibility, thus Thao will regularly join the event to help the patients.

Though it was the mid-day, there were many people patiently waiting to donate their blood. At the end of the festival, the organization board collected 363 blood units qualified with the Ministry of Health’s standard. These units will be added to the Blood Bank of the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion for emergency cases and patient treatment.

At the same day, the volunteers paraded for VBD communication in several streets in Bac Giang city. The organization board of Red Journey took the occasion to present 10 gift sets (each worth 500,000 VND or 21.7 USD) to poor patients under hematology treatment at the Internal Department of Kidney Urology – Dialysis in the provincial General Hospital.

Spreading into community

Numerous donors in Bac Giang city give blood at the festival responding to the Red Journey.

According to Ma Thi Thin Nga, Chairwoman of the provincial Red Cross Society, 2018 was the third year Bac Giang province has been selected as one of the journey destinations. Particularly, 2,165 blood units were donated in 2016 (accounting for 166 percent of the set target) and 2,523 units in 2017 (accounting for 168 percent of the set plan). This year, the provincial VBD Steering Board targeted to receive about 1,500 blood units in the festivals organizing in July.

The Red Journey is a cross nation VBD campaign that has been held for 6 consecutive years under the motto of “Connecting the Vietnamese Blood”. This year campaign is scheduled from June 14 to July 15, passing 26 provinces and cities, targeting at 30,000 blood units and raising the global awareness of VBD and thalassemia (a blood-related disease).

Speaking at 2018 Red Journey VBDF, Vice Chairman Le Anh Duong affirmed that thanks to the sentimental blood, the campaign helps connect the kind hearts and educate the young generation on the humanitarian spirit and willingness to devote and share with the community.

Also, he urged the public servants, party officers, army soldiers, youth members and people of all strata in the province to actively join hand and call for others to participate in VBD, helping partially solve the blood shortage and bring back the patients’ life.

The provincial and localities’ authorities, VBD Steering Boards of all levels should focus on well instructing and organizing the Red Journey programme while the Fatherland Front Committees, political and social agencies call for the members’ participation in the meaningful movement.

Tuong Vi – Huu Trinh