Macau Rotary Clubs (RCs) will hold their annual “Rotary Blood Donation Day” this Sunday at the NOVA Mall in Taipa, calling on individuals with a Caucasian background and donors with O-, A-, B- and AB- blood groups to get involved, Macau Rotary Club President João Francisco Pinto announced in a press conference yesterday.
The eight clubs hosted a joint press conference about the upcoming Rotary Blood Donation drive at Montepio Building on Avenida Dr Mário Soares yesterday.
The event, initiated in 2001, will be co-hosted by eight local RCs and the Macau Blood Transfusion Service (MBTS) of the Health Bureau (SSM), with the aim of promoting awareness and the need for blood donations to the general public, as well as to ensure a sufficient supply of blood reserves in the city, according to a statement read out during the press conference.
The Macau Rotary Clubs organisation comprises eight clubs: Rotary Club of Amizade, Macau, Hou Kuong, Macau Central, Macau Islands, Guia, Penha Macau, Oriental Pearl Macau.
Pinto, the Portuguese and English news and programme controller of public broadcaster TDM, said during the press conference that the number of blood donors in 2023 rose by 0.2 percent to 14,200, including 3,356 first-time donors – the latter increased by 1.5 percent.
Pinto also said that on average, out of 1,000 individuals with a Caucasian background, around 150 have RhD-negative blood type whereas among individuals with a Chinese background, the proportion is only 3 to 5 out of 1,000, Pinto pointed out.
Pinto noted that this year’s event will take place at NOVA Mall, which allows the organisers to reach key demographic groups of young and middle-aged residents with diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
Pinto said the blood donation area at Nova Mall will be managed by the MBTS in accordance with the guidelines of the Health Bureau and ensure the safety of the donors and passers-by, adding that the donors will donate blood under exactly the same conditions as at the Health Bureau’s blood donation centre.
MBTS staff will be in the mall to take blood donations from 1:45 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Macau’s eight Rotary Clubs presidents attend yesterday’s Rotary Blood Donation Event press conference yesterday at Montepio Building on Avenida Dr Mário Soares, including , Macau Rotary Club President João Francisco Pinto (fifth from right). – Photo: Ginnie Liang
