Wang Yuanyuan
MORE than 400 people donated blood during the Spring Festival holidays with the city continuing to face a shortage of Type A, O and AB blood.
More than 100,000 milliliters of blood were donated between Wednesday and Saturday and the number would increase as more people returned to Shenzhen after the holidays, Yang Baocheng, director of the Shenzhen Blood Center, said Sunday.
At least 300,000 milliliters of each blood type should be held in reserve but Type A, O and AB blood stocks had remained at around 100,000 milliliters since January.
If a major emergency occurred, there would not be enough blood, Yang said.
The shortage in January was partly due to the festival because many people went home for holidays. Several hospitals in Shenzhen had major operations at the end of last year and the patients also used a lot of blood, aggravating the shortage, he said.
Shenzhen people are very generous in donating blood. Every time we said we were short of blood, many people came to donate without hesitation. Some said that donating blood during the Spring Festival was meaningful and would give them luck for doing good deeds, said Chen Zhiyun, a volunteer at the blood donation center in Huaqiangbei, Futian District.
Guangdong Province used much more Type O blood than other regions in China because of the large number of migrant workers from South China in the province. Most people in South China were Type O blood, he said.
