Nationwide blood donation campaign begins

KUALA LUMPUR: The Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM) organised a health awareness and nationwide blood donation campaign to promote greater awareness about health among Malaysians.
The campaign which started on the 18th and ends on Sept 29, is organised by the Life Insurance Association of Malaysia, National Blood Centre, National Association of Malaysian Life Insurance and Family Takaful Advisors (NAMLIFA), National Heart Institute (IJN) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Specialist Centre.
The campaign was launched by the Assistant Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia Abu Hassan Alshari Yahaya.
According to LIAM president Toi See Jong, the purpose of the campaign is to create greater awareness towards the importance of regular health checkups.
"With one common objective in mind and in the true spirit of caring, sharing and giving, this initiative is to encourage people from all walks of life to donate blood and at the same time keep track of their health condition.
"We hope the public will benefit from this campaign and take this opportunity to do their health screening while donating blood for the needy," Toi said during the launch of the event.
There are 52 donation centres that covers five regions, namely Central, Northern, East Coast and East Malaysia in the campaign.
The campaign also offers complimentary health screenings, BMI tests, health talks and a quit-smoking clinic.
According to the Health Ministry, the awareness of blood donation is still low among Malaysians, with only 660,000 people or just 2.2% of the entire Malaysian population donating blood in 2016.
The ministry added about 2,000 pints of blood is needed daily to treat 1,000 patients and a shortage of blood is expected to occur if there is no awareness on donating blood.