Dubai asks residents to give blood

One donor helps three patients, says health authority chief.

Esmail Abdol Ghader, a 36-year-old Iranian, donates his type O blood as nurse Mark Anthony Torres Lagonera applies an anaesthetic at Al Wasl Hospital.

DUBAI // The Dubai Health Authority has said residents need to give blood more often, and is campaigning to promote the cause.

Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, the health authority's director general, said: "You cannot store blood for more than 42 days, so it [donating] is a continuous process."

The authority will use television and newspaper advertising to increase awareness. Although officials encourage everyone to donate, the decision is ultimately up to the individual, Mr Al Murooshid said.

Mohammed Odeh, 35, from Jordan, has lived in Dubai for a decade and said he would like to give blood more often.

"I donate for the same reason everyone else does - to help other people. Unfortunately, this is the first time I have given blood in over a year but, before that, I did try and give regularly."

Mr Al Murooshid said the campaign will better explain the importance of giving blood.

"One donor will help three patients," he said.

"That is why we would like to work with the media to encourage the public to create this kind of loyalty [within the community] regardless of race or religion."

Asma Juma Al Neyadi, the head of the Dubai Blood Donation Centre's laboratory, said that if people knew who was receiving their blood, they would feel a greater urge to give.

"It is a human thing," she said.

Donors must be between the ages of 17 and 65.

A blood donation bus will travel the emirate. It has a waiting area, four beds, a blood storage unit and an area where donors can check their blood pressure, cholesterol and haemoglobin levels.

Last year, the Dubai Blood Donation Centre collected almost 35,000 units of blood, almost half the total amount collected across the country.

Thalassaemia patients require almost half the donations the blood centre receives. People suffering from the ailment (an inherited form of anaemia that curtails the amount of oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells) require 34 transfusions a year. More than 400 thalassaemia patients are registered at Al Wasl Hospital.

Among the many others who require donations are patients at Rashid Hospital's trauma ward, cancer patients and women going through childbirth, said Mr Al Murooshid.

Giving blood saves lives, Ms Al Neyadi said, but there are still not enough people taking 10 minutes to visit the centre to help.

The centre also requires more space, more staff, and more machines to process blood, she said. The health authority is in the process of helping the centre to meet its needs, she added.