The Department of Blood Banks Services (DBBS) of the Ministry of Health collected 70,555 blood units in 2021. The blood units were collected by blood banks affiliated with the MoH. Among the donors, non-Omanis accounted for 93 per cent, Omanis 82 per cent and first-time donors 40 per cent.
As the world observes June 14, World Blood Donor Day, the role of blood donors becomes vital in saving several lives globally and serving the patients who suffer from life-threatening conditions.
Due to the voluntary blood donor, many serious patients become normal and start enjoying a better quality of life.
Donated blood units help support complex medical and surgical operations and play an essential role in saving the lives of many mothers and newly born children. They are hugely helpful in saving human lives during an emergency and even man-made or natural disasters.
This year's slogan 'Donating blood is an act of solidarity. Join the effort and save lives' is meant to draw attention and raise awareness for blood donation to save lives and strengthen solidarity within society.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the specific objectives of this year's campaign are to thank blood donors, work to raise awareness widely for blood donation regularly without remuneration, highlight the need for a year-round commitment to donate blood to maintain adequate supplies and to achieve timely and safe blood transfusion for all.
The idea is to recognise and promote the value of voluntary blood donation in strengthening community solidarity and social cohesion, raise awareness for increased investment by the governments to build a sustainable and resilient national blood supply system, and to increase the collection of blood donations from free blood donors.
The WHO also mentioned that there are certain activities that countries are implementing in this year's campaign, like publishing stories in various media about people who survived due to blood donations. This is to motivate donors to continue donating blood regularly and motivate others to do the same.
Other activities include celebrations to recognise donors, campaigns on social media, special broadcasts, media posts depicting individual blood donors along with the logo, meetings and workshops, music events, celebrating solidarity, and painting famous landmarks in red.
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