Hospitals fear that blood stores will run dry as there won’t be enough blood donations during the Tet holidays to keep up with the increased demand.

Doctors and medical staffs of Tu Du Hospital volunteer to give blood (Photo: Chan Vu)

The Humanitarian Blood Donation Center in Ho Chi Minh City’s district 1 said it would need about 400 units of blood a day as traffic crashes and injuries from accidents especially burns escalate during the Tet break.

The center’s director Bui Van Them said he expected blood stores to run low around the sixth day of the lunar calendar.

He said the blood needed for patients with dengue fever, kidney failure and leukemia would remain stable but some hospitals had shortages of different blood types, while others had some types in excess.

If at least 2 per cent of the country’s population gives blood, stores at the blood bank would be maintained, said Dr. Truong Thi Kim Dung, deputy head of the Hematology and Blood Transfusion Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Her hospital launched blood donation campaigns before Tet holidays.

Dr. Dung said her hospital is the only hospital to provide blood for over 70 medical clinics in the city. Over 90 per cent of blood in stock comes from volunteer donors.

There is a large risk that supplies will run out over the long holiday as students and company employees who are major donors returned to their hometowns. Furthermore, Vietnamese people will not offer blood in the first days of the New Year as it is a taboo.

Doctors asked people to be mindful of the shortage and warned everyone to steer away from beer and wine over the holiday to prevent traffic accidents.