MIRI: Transport Minister, Datuk Lee Kim Shin on Sunday thanked all the donors who helped keep the blood supply steady during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking after visiting a blood donation drive at the Miri Red Crescent (MRC) Training Institute at Jalan Bulan Sabit here in conjunction with the ‘World Blood Donor 2020’, he said 33 blood donations had been organised since March 25 during the movement control order (MCO), conditional movement control order (CMCO) and recovery movement control order (RMCO) periods.
“A total of 1,042 blood donors have registered and 915 have donated successfully. Today, there are 11 new donors,” said Lee, who is also deputy chairman of MRC Miri.
“The Miri Red Crescent hopes healthier Mirians will come forward to register themselves as blood donors as the need for blood at our Miri hospital increases each year with an increasing number of patients,” he said.
World Blood Donor Day is celebrated every year by people around the world on June 14. It is celebrated on the birthday anniversary of Karl Landsteiner who was born on June 14, 1868. He distinguished the main blood groups in 1900 and developed the modern system of classification of blood groups.
The Blood Donor Recruitment Committee of MRC Miri District organised the yearly World Blood Donor Day donation on Saturday and Sunday (June 13 and June 14).
The event recognised voluntary blood donors for their life-saving gift of blood. There are three types of blood donors — voluntary unpaid, replacement and paid.
Miri City has the distinction of being the first in the country to achieve the ‘Voluntary Non-Remunerated Blood Donation” 31 years ago and has maintained the status ever since.
The campaign theme for this year’s World Blood Donor Day is ‘Safe Blood Saves Lives’ with the slogan ‘Give blood and make the world a healthier place’.
