The number of blood donators in Beijing has doubled during Spring Festival, or the Chinese lunar New
Year, according to the Beijing Red Cross Blood Center.
Beijing has collected 2,915 bags of blood, 200 cc each, by
volunteers from February 17 to 19, doubling the amount on ordinary
days, said officials with the center.
Some tourists and students chose to donate blood to celebrate
the festival in a special way, said a doctor surnamed Bai from the
Peking Union Medical College Hospital who works on a blood
collection van.
Bai and his colleagues in Wangfujing said they were much busier
during Spring Festival and received nearly 50 donators every
day.
However, nearly half of the people who had wanted to donate
blood at Bai's van were refused for their high level of blood fat
or transaminase, a result of holiday engorgement, according to
Bai.
The amount of blood donated by volunteers has been on the rapid
rise in Beijing in recent years, according to statistics of the
Beijing Municipal Health Bureau. Beijing received 64 million cc of
blood donated by volunteers in 2005 compared with 2.8 million cc in
2000.
The Beijing Red Cross Blood Center, established in 1957, is the
main blood center in the Chinese capital, supplying two-thirds of
the city's clinical demand.
(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2007)