Rotary clubs hope for more RhD negative blood donors

Fatima Ferreira (center) and presidents of local Rotary clubs

The 16th edition of the Rotary Blood Donation Day is aiming to attract more diverse blood donors, particularly RhD negative donors, to maintain a sufficient reserve of the blood type in the city.

To be held at the recreation area and exhibition hall of the Flower City Garden on March 25, the event aims to promote awareness of the blood requirements of hospitals and the significant benefits of blood donation to the public, to ensure that there is a sufficient supply of blood reserve in the city.

Data provided by the Macau- based Rotary clubs showed that there was a total of 13,053 residents who registered for blood donation in 2017, while the Macau Blood Transfusion Services collected 14,288 blood units – an increase of 151 blood units over the 2016 levels.

However, 2017 suffered from an 8 percent decrease of registered RhD negative blood donors, and a decrease of 14.7 percent of RhD negative blood units.

RhD negative donors in Macau are rare; an average of 150 persons out of 1,000 Caucasians have this blood type and at this point it is imperative to reserve more RhD negative blood.

According to the Rotary clubs, the Macau Blood Transfusion Services hopes that all sectors of the community in Macau will collaborate towards the aim of active participation in blood donation from all ethnic groups living in Macau.

“It is important for people to be aware that there is a need for this type of blood in Macau,” said Fatima Ferreira, president of the Rotary Club of Macau, in a press conference held yesterday.

“The percentage is low so we have to bring awareness to this issue in the foreigner population,” she added, hinting that there was a decrease after the region’s handover in 1999.

Ferreira said that the rotary clubs hope to see an increase in the number of blood donors during the Blood Donation Day. She added that they are hoping to see a diversity of nationalities participate in the annual event.

“We hope that we will have an increase but we can’t tell because sometimes people have already donated blood [right before] the event starts,” said the president.

Since 2012, registered MSAR residents have been able to draw blood samples from the Macau Blood Transfusion Services to check their eligibility for bone marrow donations.

Until December 2017,  a total of 963 residents registered as bone marrow donors.

Some 921 of them successfully became either a bone marrow or blood stem cell donor. So far, only one donor has successfully donated bone marrow. LV