Return in three months, overzealous blood donor told at drive

An overzealous officer with the People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) officer had to be turned away when he showed up at a blood donation drive since he had already made a donation last month.

Penang Rela acting president Lim Poh Tek said he participated in a donation drive for a private hospital on April 10, but insisted on contributing again towards the St John Ambulance Malaysia’s national blood drive at Kompleks Masyarakat Penyayang here yesterday.

Despite Lim’s determination and generosity, he was turned down by staff during the donation drive as he could only donate blood three months after his last donation, in line with the Health Ministry’s guidelines.

“I would still donate again if given the opportunity, but for now I can only support my buddies who are donating today,” he said yesterday.

Seven other Rela Penang members were present to donate blood at the event .

The St John Ambulance of Malaysia is organising a three-day blood donation drive across 23 locations in Kuala Lumpur and nine other states from May 29 to May 31.

Lim said most of the Rela Penang members had participated in a blood donation campaign on March 31 and were expected to volunteer again after three months.

He said the conditional movement control order (MCO) and the Covid-19 pandemic had led to reduced numbers of blood donors in Penang and shortage of supply at Hospital Pulau Pinang’s (HPP) Blood Bank.

Meanwhile, HPP Department of Transfusion Medicine assistant information officer Marshita Othman said the blood donation campaign yesterday received encouraging response.

She said though the organisers only targeted 60 participants for the campaign, the number had doubled by 2pm.

“Most likely we will be able to collect about 140 blood bags by the end of the blood donation drive (in Penang) today,” she added. — Bernama