Sarawak GH welcomes blood donation as continuous supply needed

State Deputy Minister in the Premier's Department Datuk Abdullah Saidol (left) observing the blood donation drive, accompanied by Unifor director Datuk Jack Aman (in black jacket) and Ukas director Samuel Simon (right). - ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE/The Star

KUCHING: The Sarawak General Hospital's (SGH) blood bank welcomes donors daily to ensure a sufficient blood supply, says a medical officer.

Dr Lu Siew Ling stated that the blood supply was at a safe level, but regular donations were necessary.

"Our hospital needs to supply 70 to 75 blood bags to patients every day. The bags have an expiry date as well.

"So we need to make sure the blood we collect each day is enough to supply to the patients and top up what we supply," she said.

Dr Lu was speaking to reporters at a blood donation drive organised by the state Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) and Sarawak Public Communications Unit (Ukas) in collaboration with the SGH blood bank and Plaza Merdeka Management Sdn Bhd here on Tuesday (Jan 30).

She said SGH also supplied blood to private and district hospitals.

As such, she said donors were encouraged to come to the blood centre every day to donate blood.

The blood centre is open Monday to Friday, and donors can check its Facebook page for the weekend schedule and any public blood donation campaign.

Unifor director Datuk Jack Aman said the blood donation drive was part of its corporate social responsibility with Ukas.

"This is a platform to raise awareness on the importance of donating blood and an opportunity for voluntary donors to donate their blood to save a life," he said.

The drive targets 150 donors from the state civil service, religious institutions, associations and the public.