Ben Foods, Supa Save staff donate blood
By James Kon

Dr Vasantha taking the pressure of a donor.

Over 50 personnel from Ben Foods Sdn Bhd and Supa Save took part in a blood donation drive at the QAF Plaza, Jln Telanai recently.

Awang Rahim bin Haji Daud, the co-ordinator said that this was an annual event for their organisation and they hoped to replenish the amount of blood in the hospital to help those who needed the blood for surgery or transfusion.

Dr Vasantha, the doctor in charge of the travelling blood donation unit, said that at the moment the amount of blood in the blood bank was still sufficient. Only the rare kind of blood like Rhesus negative was in shortage. Luckily the hospital has a list of people who have this type of Blood, so in case emergencies, the hospital can contact these people to help those in need.

She added that Brunei is a unique country as people are so willing to donate blood. She gave an example of a 50-year-old man who had donated blood for 104 times at the hospital and is still doing so.

She added that her team only stays in the hospital on Mondays, and they travel around to different governmental agencies as well as private organisation assisting people who would like to donate blood.

She disclosed that last year, 8,488 units of blood were collected, while in 2002, the amount was 7,530. The figures prove that more and more Bruneians are donating blood.

Dr Vasantha hopes that more people from the younger generation will step forward to donate blood. She explained that there is no substitute for blood and humans are the only source of blood. Without the donated blood, many lives would have been lost.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin