By Yun Makara
June 14th, 2014: Dr. Hok Kimcheng, the Director of the National Blood Transfusion Center opened the ceremonies by highlighting the importance of blood to human life. He explained that about 150 units of blood are needed everyday and it is up to the local population to donate blood. He noted that it is the responsibility of all the men and women in the nation to donate blood and the responsibility of the medical staff to collect blood safely.
This year, the National Blood Transfusion Center held World Blood Donor Day under the title of “Safe Blood for Saving Mothers” and focused on highlighting the importance of having a clean and ample blood supply to protect new mothers in the case of severe pregnancy complications. Every day about 800 women die from pregnancy and childbirth complications related to severe bleeding. However, access to safe and sufficient blood would allow doctors to perform blood transfusions that could save the lives of many of those women. Unfortunately, access to blood and the safe use of blood transfusions remains a major challenge in many countries around the world.
