A ceremony was held in Hanoi on June 9 to honour 100 outstanding blood donors from 63 cities and provinces nationwide and six ministries and sectors.
Of the donors, the oldest is Vo Ngoc Viet, a 61-year-old man from the Mekong Delta province of Long An, and the youngest, Dam Quang Tuan from northern Thai Nguyen province and Nguyen Van Trung from Hanoi, are only 23 years old.
Two of the donors have donated their blood for 64 times, 10 have made donations for 51-63 times, 3 for 41-50 times, 8 for 31-40 times and 70 for 8-30 times. Particularly, one donor has the rare blood type O (Rh-).
The 100 figures, one-fourth are members and volunteers of the Red Cross Society, are also honoured for their efforts in encouraging up to 2,000 others to join blood donation.
Addressing the ceremony, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Uong Chu Luu described the blood donors as the brightest flowers in a garden of humanity.
He said that he hopes the honoured donors will continue acting as key factors in blood donation, helping attract more people to join the movement.
He lauded the National Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation’s efforts in organising activities to recognise the great deeds of the donors, asking the committee to advise the Party, State and Government to give more resources to communications on blood donation, thus raising public awareness and encouraging good deeds in the field.
President of the Vietnam Red Cross Society and head of the Standing Board of the National Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu showed gratitude towards all blood donors across the country, who she described as “heroes of patients”.
She called on the community to join in donating blood as the activity is not harmful to their heath but can save the lives of many people.
Since 2004, June 14 was chosen as the World Blood Donor Day. This is a chance to commemorate the birthday of Austrian American scientist Karl Landsteiner who discovered the rare blood type ABO in 1901 for which he received a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
This year, the event is themed “Be there for someone else. Give blood. Share life”.
VNA
