A young female doctor in voluntary blood donation activities

Each individual has different ways to share, help those with more difficult circumstances and can contribute volunteer work to the community. For young doctor Tran Thi Phuong Thao, Division of Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases and Nutrition of the Provincial Center for Disease Control, voluntary blood donation is a practical way.

Born in 1991 and raised in the Dormitory of Thai Thuy District General Hospital, Thai Binh Province, since childhood, Thao wanted to work in the medical field when she grew up. After graduating with a major in Biology from Thai Binh Provincial High School for the Gifted, Thao passed the exam as a Doctor of Preventive Medicine at Hanoi Medical University. Thao shared: In the summer of 2010, when I was a first-year student, by chance I saw a mobile blood donation vehicle parked on campus, I came and participated in the first blood donation.

Doctor Tran Thi Phuong Thao has 10 times voluntary blood donation

After that, Thao was informed by the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion that she has a rare blood type B Rh-. In Vietnam, people with Rh- blood group account for a very small proportion, only about 0.04 to 0.07% of the population. According to the rules of blood group donation, blood group B Rh- can donate blood to blood group B+, B-, AB+ and AB- but can only receive blood from blood group B- and O-.

Thao confided: Many people think that rare things are precious and don’t want to give it away, but I think otherwise. After each blood donation, I feel more optimistic and love my life because I have done a meaningful thing for the community. The important thing is that the amount of blood is very useful for patients who need a blood transfusion to stay alive.

After graduating from university, working at the Department of Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases and Nutrition of the Center for Disease Control of Lang Son Province, Thao is still enthusiastic about the blood donation movement. From 2010 to 2022, Dr. Tran Thi Phuong Thao participated in blood donation 10 times. Recently, she has also registered to participate in voluntary blood donation in the program “A drop of blood to give – A life to stay” by the Lang Son Department of Health in collaboration with the Provincial Red Cross Society and Center Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion will be held on February 18, 2023.

Not only actively donating blood, Dr. Thao also actively mobilized family members, friends, colleagues and many others to participate in blood donation. Before giving birth to her first child, she was the Vice President of the Northern Rare Blood Club for the period of 2016 – 2019. This club is managed by the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion with about 500-600 members. On average, club members donate about 2,000 units of blood each year. She directly donated blood to save lives in many emergency situations. Currently, she is both a member of the Northern Rare Blood Group Club and participates in direct blood donation and plays the role of cohesion and bridge between members of the club, participating in mobilizing and coordinating whenever there is an emergency situation.

Doctor Duong Thi Vinh, Head of the Division of Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Control and Nutrition, Center for Disease Control, said: Doctor Tran Thi Phuong Thao graduated with a Master of Preventive Medicine in 2021. She is managing the Program on Prevention and Control of Hypertension, communicating, and supervising the activities of the Programs on Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases and Nutrition at the grassroots health level. Over the past time, she has always been enthusiastic and dedicated, successfully completed all assigned tasks and was awarded a certificate of merit by the Director of the Department of Health in 2022. She also received a certificate of merit from the Central Committee of the Vietnam Red Cross and a certificate of merit from the Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation in Hanoi for her excellent achievements in blood donation and voluntary blood donation. Dr. Thao’s contributions were persuasive , making many people see the noble gesture of blood donation to save lives, contributing to maintaining the living blood bank of rare blood types such as B Rh-.

“In the future, as long as I am healthy, I will participate in voluntary blood donation, I will donate blood until I am not eligible to donate anymore” – What Dr. Tran Thi Phuong Thao shared is one of many stories of blood donation and blood donation campaign that volunteers across the country are doing every day. Mrs. Thao and other bright examples in voluntary blood donation are still persistently, silently donating blood to contribute to bringing back heartbeat and spreading charitable actions to the community.