Bad weather, fewer first-timers and poor diets: 3 reasons Hong Kong’s blood donation rate is at a low
A 5.3 per cent drop in collections compared with 2016 sparks concern over more challenges as city ages
Around 15,000 fewer Hongkongers chose to donate blood in 2017 compared with the year before as bad weather kept more people at home and not as many first-time donors stepped up to the mark.
The Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service described the rate of donations as unsatisfactory and warned of further challenges collecting blood as the population aged.
Total donor attendance fell 4.7 per cent to 312,972 last year, and 68,319 of them were rejected, mainly because of low blood iron levels.
One in eight Hong Kong blood donors rejected due to low iron levels, Red Cross says
This meant only 244,653 successful collections were made, 5.3 per cent less than in 2016.
About half of the rejected donors – 35,673 – were told they could not donate because of low levels of haemoglobin – the protein in red blood cells that carries iron. These problems are mainly caused by poor diet.
The number of first-time blood donors also fell 8.3 per cent to 33,626.
“Overall, our 2017 figures were not that satisfactory. The 4.7 [and 5.3] per cent drops are quite significant. Our collections were mostly insufficient … and inventories are still low,” Dr Lee Cheuk-kwong, chief executive and medical director of the service, said on Thursday at an annual press conference.
Lee said blood collection drives were seriously affected or even terminated owing to the unstable weather last year.