Students of Shanghai’s colleges and universities will no longer be supposed to fulfill compulsory blood donation quotas as of this year, while schools will encourage more students to volunteer the donations, local health officials announced Tuesday.
The city began implementing its mandatory blood donation in 1989 as the local supply of blood couldn't meet demand.
Schools, businesses, government departments and other institutions were given donation quotas to meet - a system the local government says will end in the near future.
Universities and colleges are the first to drop the quota, as students are better educated about the importance of blood donation and already responsible for a large part of voluntary donations, officials said.
"One fourth of the 70,000 people who donated blood at blood collecting vehicles on streets last year were university students," said Song Qi, a spokesman for the Shanghai Blood Management Office.
"In addition to canceling the quota system, we are also telling schools not to give subsidies and unnecessary sick leave," said Song. In the past, students would often take up to a week off school to recover after giving blood.
"We will work harder to make people more aware of the importance of blood donation and ensure their safety when giving blood. Special vehicles will go to universities to collect donation from healthy students."
Officials say they hope the city will cancel the quota system for all other institutions and enterprises in five years, becoming fully dependent on volunteer donations, like in many western countries.
Shanghai needs 70,000 liters of blood every year. It manages to collect 60,000 liters annually from the compulsory and voluntary donors and buys the rest from other provinces. Last year, about 14,000 liters of blood were donated by volunteers.
In addition to blood collection centers in every district, the city has introduced 15 blood collecting vehicles that patrol major streets serving volunteers.
A vehicle will enter Shanghai Jiao Tong University to collect blood from students today.
"This is the first time that we introduced a real volunteer spirit. We are not sure whether it works or not, while we will cooperate with the health authorities to find more volunteers," said Jiang Hong, a spokesman for Jiao Tong.
"I will consider giving a voluntary donation if the collection vehicle enters our campus, because I know donating blood will not harm my health and is an honorable behavior," said Ji Linyun, a sophomore at Fudan University.
(eastday.com March 5, 2003)
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