Sabah faces deficit of 14,000 blood bags
Published on: Tuesday, July 09, 2024
Ahsim (third right) when visiting donating stations during the programme.
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah’s transfusion service is short of 14,000 blood bags.
Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Ts Mustapha Sakmud, said hospitals need the cooperation and support of various parties to ensure supply is always sufficient.
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“Sabah has a high transfusion rate because it has the highest number of thalassaemia patients in Malaysia at 1,800.
“On average, 2,000 to 2,200 bags of blood are needed throughout Malaysia for the use of 1,000 patients every day.
“For Sabah last year, 110,000 units of blood were given to patients compared to 76,000 units collected.
“The State’s transfusion service had to ask for donations from other states to fill the deficit of 14,000 blood bags.
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“Thus, continuous donation is necessary to ensure the current blood supply is sufficient and safe.
“This is because of the short life span of blood which is 42 days for red blood and five days for platelets,” he explained.
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According to him, currently, about 2.3 per cent of the total population in Malaysia are blood donors.
However, the figure is much lower than the international standard of 5 per cent, while the target by 2030 is 3.5 per cent.
“The small pool of blood donors will decrease due to ageing and other factors if there is no more involvement from the community.
“Therefore, the hospital is targeting young people (aged 17 to 24 years) as new blood donors,” he said while officiating the 2024 World Blood Donor Day celebration at Likas Hospital.
The text of his speech was read by Sepanggar Parliament People’s Service Centre Director, Ahsim Jamat, who is also Deputy Chairman of the Malaysian Human Development Corporation.
Ahsim said the theme of World Blood Donor Day this year is “Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of World Blood Donor Day: Thank you, blood donors!” or “20 Years of Celebrating Giving: Thank You, Blood Donors”.
The main focus of this year’s Blood Donor Day theme is to give appreciation to blood donors and blood donation campaign organisers for their efforts, commitment and sacrifice of time and energy over the years in helping to save patients’ lives.
During the ceremony, Ahsim presented several awards to the winners, namely the Best Blood Donor Award, Best Apheresis Donor Award, Best Campaign Organiser Award, Appreciation Award to Contributors (Sponsors) and Joint Managing Committee Appreciation.
Also present were Likas Hospital Director Marcus Netto; Head of Transfusion Medicine Unit Dr Jamaludin Mail; Head of the Department of Pathology and Transfusion Medicine Dr Kimberly Fe Joibi; Director of the Transfusion Medicine Department of Queen Elizabeth ll Hospital Dr Shahnaz Irwani Chung; Sabah Malaysian Red Crescent Society President Datuk Asnan Yunus Chung and Lions Clubs International Regions Chairperson Fiona Chin.
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