The Ministry of Health (MOH) celebrated on Wednesday the World Blood Donor Day which marks 14^th of June under the theme (Give Blood, Give Now, and Give Often).

The celebration held under the patronage of H.E. Dr. Abdulmunim bin Mansour al-Hasani, Minister of Information at the Cultural Club. 

This year, the theme focuses on blood donation during the emergency. Emergency cases affect the lives of millions of people every year, therefore, blood transfusion is one of the basic factors of healthcare and requires providing adequate blood supply during emergencies.

Dr. Zainab al-Arimi, Director of Blood Banks Services said in her speech that: “MOH, represented by the Blood Banks Services Department focuses on providing the safe blood and its products to all medical facilities, as well as seeking to make blood donation voluntarily among the community”. Dr. al-Arimi also added that the percentage of voluntary donation reached 88, 5 % in 2016 and 445 blood donation campaigns were organized during the same year.

The celebration included number of lectures related to the importance of blood donation, health reasons behind blood donation, as well as the humanitarian and religious role in this field. At the end, the participants of organizing this event and volunteer teams were honored.