The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, and the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, encourage government employees to donate blood to save lives.
They visited a Hong Kong Red Cross brand new blood donation vehicle this morning (April 17) to show the Government's full support for blood donation and appeal for support from members of the public.
The Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service (BTS) has also set up a temporary blood donation station within the Central Government Offices from this Monday (April 15) until tomorrow (April 18) to facilitate blood donation by government employees.
The vehicle donated by the Lions Clubs to the BTS is parked temporarily at the East Wing Forecourt of the Central Government Offices during the period to facilitate members of the public to give blood.
Mr Cheung said, "The entire process of donating whole blood only takes about 30 minutes, but a single donation each time can help three patients. Since there is no substitute for blood and the shelf life of blood is limited, the BTS needs donors to donate on a continuous basis in order to provide blood supply for transfusions for needy patients, such as patients with chronic diseases or those in need of surgery because of illness or accident."
The BTS needs a daily turnout of 1 100 donors to ensure that sufficient supplies of safe blood are available for clinical transfusions in all hospitals over the territory.
He said, "The total attending number of donors only accounted for 2.7% of the population within the blood donation age bracket in 2018. In view of the aging population, we wish to appeal to more people to become regular donors. We also welcome corporations and community groups to host more blood drives, so as to widely disseminate the importance of blood donation and help make blood donation a lifelong habit among members of the community."
The new blood donation vehicle will visit housing estates, schools, community centres and parks in various districts in the coming months to attract members of the public to support blood donation.
For details of the donor centres and mobile blood donation services, please visit the BTS' website (www.ha.org.hk/rcbts) or call 2710 1234. Members of the public can also make online appointments for blood donation.
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