KUCHING: The supply of blood is currently at a safe level at Sarawak General Hospital (SGH), however there is always a constant need for it.
According to the medical officer in charge of the blood donation drive at the hospital, Dr Simon Su, the hospital is able to collect a sufficient supply of blood thanks to blood donors.
“I want to thank the citizens of Kuching because they understand that there are patients in need of blood and there is a need for constant supply.
“There is a big improvement in this as we aim to achieve a high target of blood donors in our population.
“Therefore, I want to thank the corporate companies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as well as individuals in Kuching. Without them this is not possible,” he told New Sarawak Tribune on Saturday.
Earlier, more than 50 blood donors donated their blood at the one-day blood donation drive jointly organised by SGH and Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS) at the Transfusion and Blood Bank Service Department, SGH.
Dr Su mentioned that the Transfusion and Blood Bank Service Department’s social media are also constantly creating awareness and encouraging people to come forward to donate blood.
“Our daily requirement for the blood supply is 70 units of blood a day, so we roughly need 500 units a week, 2,000 units a month and this means 24,000 units a year.
“This is our constant target, so we try to collect as much as possible,” he said.
He acknowledged that demand for blood supply decreased as during the COVID-19 pandemic in the last two years, people were less willing to go to the hospital during that period.
“So, our supply is always constant, but the request fluctuates as well depending on the festival.
“For instance, during the Chinese New Year (CNY) celebration, some Chinese are superstitious and do not want to come to the hospital to donate blood yet, so they prefer to come one or two weeks after the CNY,” he said.
Dr Su also encouraged more to come forward to donate their blood, as one pint of blood which equals to 450 ml of blood is able to save up to three lives.
“We advise those who want to donate blood to have breakfast and get well hydrated prior to the blood donation.
“Also, for adults, their haemoglobin level needs to be around 12.5 grams per deciliter (gm/dL) in order for them to be allowed to donate blood. And they can come back to donate again after three months,” he said.
Meanwhile, corporate communication executive of CMS, Mohammad Hadzwan Siri, said that the blood donation drive is part of CMS’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme which the company had organised since 10 years ago.
“This is our annual CSR activity where in a year we have three blood donation drives. We invited 50 to 60 of our staff to come and join this programme and donate blood today,” he said.
At CMS, he said, staff are always encouraged to donate blood with an aim to help the community who are in need of blood.
For Hadzwan, he too is a blood donor and has been donating blood for eight times since 2017.
“I am inspired by my father, who is also a blood donor and has been donating blood for more than 50 times.
“… and when I joined CMS, I started to be active in donating blood,” he said.
For the upcoming blood donation drive, the public can visit SGH’s Blood Bank Facebook page at Blood Bank Hospital Umum Sarawak.
