Cambodia on Tuesday marked the World Blood Donor Day, calling for more blood donations.
The event under the theme "more blood, more life" was presided over by Cambodian Minister of Health Mam Bunheng and attended by about 500 health officials, foreign embassy officials to Cambodia, non-governmental organization officials, and students.
Mam Bunheng appealed to the public to donate more blood as it is very important to save lives."The blood transfusion will not damage your health; instead, it will save lives of the patients who are in urgent need of blood, " he said.
Hok Kim Cheng, director of National Blood Transfusion Center, said that 3 out of 1,000 people donate blood in Cambodia; it's still low if compared with other developing countries that the blood donation rate is up to 5 among 1,000 people.
Last year, the center has received voluntary donations of 40, 245 units of blood, up 12 percent from 35,895 units in a year earlier.
All blood had been tested for four types of diseases: HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, and malaria, he said, adding that last year, 9 % of the blood was founded with these diseases and destroyed.
One of the blood donors Moeung Dara said that he donated his blood regularly every three months and he has done it for three years.
"In the past, I had a disease and needed an urgent surgery, at that time, the center donated blood to save my life in the surgery, " he said. "So, to express my grateful thanks to the center and the previous donors, I decided to donate my blood regularly to the center."A Buddhist monk Svay Sothea is one of the donors.
"This is the 24th time that I donate my blood to the center," he said. "I'm very happy to donate the blood as it will be helpful to save lives of patients in urgent need."
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