Members of “rare blood” club. Photo: Do Quyen.

In 2003, Than Ngoc Trong living at Tang Tien commune, Viet Yen district suffered from a stomachache that needed an urgent surgery. His blood test result revealed he was of the rare blood type A (Rh-). Unfortunately, the hospital did not store that blood type and none of his relatives could give him their blood.

In that urgent case, his family still had to sign a commitment to the surgery accepting any risks although they could not find blood donation resources. Luckily, the surgery was successful. Since then, he had borne in his mind a question on how to find the blood resources to save people with rare blood types in case of emergencies.

In 2015, Trong met with some people having rare blood types and told them about his intention to establish the club. Thanks to the support of the provincial Red Cross Society, the first “rare blood” club of Bac Giang province was established with 15 members and came into operation with dramatic results.

Trong remembered, after the establishment of the club, they heard about the case of a child in Hai Phong city whose hand was broken from an accident. Her surgery needed a blood transfusion but the hospital did not have her type of rare blood. After being urged for help from her family, Trong took a taxi to Hai Phong right at that night to donate blood. 

Another story was about a pregnant woman in Hanoi with Rh- antigen while the fetus was of Rh+ antigen facing extreme danger as delivering the baby that needed a blood transfusion. The club members put aside their work to go giving their precious blood to save their lives.

In addition to the urgent cases, the club members donate their blood twice a year at the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) and take part in annual blood donation at the local Red Cross Association. 

So far, each member has donated blood for more than 10 times. Nguyen Thi Yen living at Vuong Van Tra street, Tran Phu ward, Bac Giang city said, “In a health check with blood testing, I found I belong to the rare blood type of Rh-. I was very anxious that if I get any disease needing blood transfusion, I will face difficult to find matching blood type. Then, I was introduced to join the club with an aspiration of donating blood to save people in need and save myself in unexpected circumstances requiring blood donation”.

According to doctor Duong Ngoc Cap, head of the Hematology and Blood Transfusion Department of the provincial General Hospital, there are four major blood groups A, B, O and AB. Each group has Rhesus (Rh) antigen. If this is present, it’s called is Rh positive (Rh+). If it's absent, it’s Rh negative (Rh-). 

Than Ngoc Trong, the club leader takes part in a local blood donation campaign.

In Vietnam, the blood groups with Rh- antigen are very rare (taking only 0.04 to 0.07 percent of the population). People having Rh- blood type can donor their blood to people of Rh+ or Rh- blood types but they can only receive from Rh- blood types. If the patients of Rh- blood types are transfused wrong blood groups, they can be life threatened. Thus, the establishment and operation of the “rare blood” club play very important role helping the Red Cross associations to immediately contact the blood donors in case of emergencies.

Doctor Cap added, rare blood group is just a genetic matter like colors of skin and hair that do not affect our health. Currently, neither provincial nor district-level hospitals store Rh- blood types. People having rare blood groups are advised to join the “rare blood” club to help others and save themselves.

Huu Trinh