On the morning of 22^nd July, more than 175 volunteers participated in the 8^th “Give Blood – Give Hope” programme on the 3^rd Floor V Building – FV Hospital. In this blood donation programme, the Organising Committee reported that 157 units of 350 ml blood and 18 units of 450 ml blood were donated.

This annual programme, jointly organised by FV Hospital and the Blood Transfusion and Haematology Hospital, has built into a tradition for the staff at FV. The 8th “Give Blood – Give Hope” received a lot of participation from relatives, as well as the surrounding community; as when they learned about the programme through communication channels at the hospital they came to join. As a result, the programme has had the largest number of registrations in the past 3 years.

Starting at 7:30 am and due to the high number of participants, the programme ended later than expected, with the closing only happening as there were not enough equipment to receive any more blood. Most of the participants said that they wanted to contribute to the shortage of blood in Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring provinces, following the pandemic has happened for over 2 years.

This year, in addition to the nutritional gifts given to the donors, the organisers brought calligraphy activities “giving calligraphy letters” attracted a lot of attention from the staff, as well as the patients and their relatives. Many wishes and meaningful messages were given during the programme. Similar to the act of donating blood, a heart-felt message also contributes to making our lives more precious.

The amount of blood received this time increased by 30%, when compared to the last blood donation in January 2022. The organising committee representative said that the programme “Give Blood – Give Hope” will come back at the end of January 2023. We hope to continue to receive the similar enthusiastic participation as this time.