Vietnam needs some two million blood units to treat patients each year, but blood donations meet just 54 percent needed, Tran Thi Tham, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Blood Donation Center, told a press briefing to announce a blood drive on Monday.

Many localities are experiencing a blood supply shortage, Tham underlined.

The blood donation initiative was launched by the Vietnam Red Cross Society and France’s Urgo Foundation in response to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s call at his meeting with outstanding voluntary blood donors nationwide in July to help ease the blood shortfall.

The program themed ‘Love Journey to Save Life’ is also aimed at marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between France and Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh City is home to 150 private and public hospitals that treat not only city dwellers, but also patients from the southern and Central Highlands regions.

The city annually sees a large number of individuals and organizations donate blood, contributing to boosting its blood availability to save people in need.

Blood donations in the city account for nearly one-fifth of the nation’s available blood volume.

The city also provides other localities with blood.

Particularly, in 2022 and 2023, Ho Chi Minh City transferred over 300,000 bags of blood to multiple Mekong Delta, and Central Highlands provinces and cities for blood transfusions.

Speaking at the event, French Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City Emmanuelle Pavillon-Grosser said that blood donation has changed the lives of millions of patients each year.

The initiative is meant to collect blood to treat patients in need in Vietnam, she said.

Dr Hoang Anh Khoi, head of the anesthesia department at the Ho Chi Minh City Heart Institute. Photo: Xuan Mai / Tuoi Tre

Dr Hoang Anh Khoi, head of the anesthesia department at the Ho Chi Minh City Heart Institute, said that the department admits up to 1,700 patients with cardiovascular diseases a year.

“To perform heart surgeries successfully, apart from modern equipment and careful care, we need blood to transfuse it into patients during and after surgeries,” Dr Khoi said.

“If blood is not available, surgeries must be postponed, threatening patients’ lives,” he stressed.

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