Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Ngoc Que - Director of the National Blood Center, National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion - said: "The demand for blood is usually stable, blood is needed every day and every hour for emergency and treatment. However, because it depends on the needs of patients, the demand can increase very high before and after Tet. On average, the Institute needs about 9,500 units of blood per week, but the upcoming Tet holiday can increase to 10,000 - 10,500 units."
To prepare for the blood reserve for the year-end and the upcoming Lunar New Year 2025, the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion is expected to need about 80,000 units of blood. Of which, blood type O will need about 50% of the total blood.
The reason for this increase is that patients often need blood transfusions before Tet to have enough strength to celebrate Tet with their families and will return to hospitals en masse after the long Tet holiday. Hospitals also need to reserve more blood to meet the demand for emergency and treatment readiness during the Tet holiday, which lasts up to 9 days.
With the weather in the North being extremely cold, affecting blood collection, the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion hopes that people will try to arrange time to donate blood at fixed blood donation points from mid-January 2025 onwards.
The Institute will also open to receive blood, especially platelets, on all days during Tet, including the 30th of Tet, or the 1st and 2nd of Tet, because platelet preparations can only be preserved and stored for a maximum of 5 days.
