‘Qatar has the most voluntary blood donors in the region’

Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) achieved 100% blood sufficiency for the sixth straight year in 2015, said a senior official.

With 42,515 people registering with the Blood Donor Centre of the HMC last year, Qatar became the country with the largest number of voluntary donors in the region, said the official. There were 38,573 donors in 2014 and 25,449 in 2013.

HMC on Tuesday honoured more than 250 people, companies and community groups which supported its blood donor centre last year. The event with the theme ‘Blood Links Us All’, was organised on World Blood Donor Day, observed worldwide on June 14.

“In 2015, there were more than 27,000 donations with more than 42,000 donors registered by the team either at the Center or as part of blood donation drives in the community. We’ll continue to play a vital role in nurturing the culture of blood donation in the community to ensure the need for blood and blood products from all the hospitals and medical facilities in Qatar are met,” said HMC’s Department of Laboratory, Medicine and Pathology Chairperson Dr Ajayeb Al Nabet Al Marri.

Among those honoured at HMC’s annual blood donor appreciation ceremony were 40 platelet donors, 20 female donors and 140 “whole blood donors” who donated whole blood products for needy patients. Blood products include red blood cells, plasma or platelets.

A whole blood donation is the most common form of donation in which a person gives one pint of blood from which components are separated in the laboratory.

During a platelet donation, a small amount of blood (about 1/4 pint at a time) is drawn and only platelets and some plasma are collected with the red cells and most of the plasma returned back to the donor’s body.

Courtesy: thepeninsulaqatar.com