If our target to obtain at least 1,000 pouches of blood per month is achieved, we will have an adequate blood stock for patients who need blood during the fasting month.
Bojonegoro, E Java (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI)`s Bojonegoro branch in East Java is intensifying its donated blood collection efforts ahead of the Ramadan fasting month in August.

Local PMI official Sukoha Widodo said here on Friday blood donors were being sought among all elements of the public in an effort to collect around 1,000 pouches of blood per month ahead of Ramadan.

"We have contacted various elements of the public to donate their blood before the start of the fasting month in early August this year," Sukoha Widodo said.

He said that in June and July the PMI of Bojonegoro would do its best to obtain as much blood as possible to meet demand for the life-saving red fluid during the fasting month.

The special effort was necessary because during the fasting month in August, the number of blood donors was predicted to decrease by about 50 percent from the normal figure.

Sukoha said the decline in the number of blood donors would also occur in other areas in East Java.

He said that if it happened, the PMI in Bojonegoro would find it difficult to get blood stock from other regions.

"If our target to obtain at least 1,000 pouches of blood per month is achieved, we will have an adequate blood stock for patients who need blood during the fasting month," Sukoha said.

He added that the acquisition of a thousand pouches of blood per month was adjusted to local demand for blood which was 970 to 1000 pouches from both private and state hospitals in Bojonegoro.

Sukoha said that besides contacting various public elements, PMI also communicated it with around 200 passive donors in the local area to voluntarily donate their blood in the run up to the fasting month.

Therefore he expressed optimism that with various efforts to collect blood, there would be no human red fluid scarcity in the August holy month of Ramadan. (O001/B/HAJM/14:48/f001)

(ANTARA)

Editor: Ella Syafputri
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