Five years and going strong, MBO Cinemas and St John
Ambulance of Malaysia (SJAM) returns with their annual blood donation drive.
This campaign which is supported by the National Blood Bank and the Ministry of
Health will be held at MBO Cinemas outlets nationwide.
Over the past
four years, MBO’s Blood Donation Campaign has successfully collected close to
17,000 pints of blood and once again counts on its Malaysian customers and fans
to come together as a community and contribute to the cause.
“Despite
ongoing efforts to raise awareness for the need for more blood donations and
drives around the country, the National Blood Bank is struggling to keep up
demands and is facing a shortage nationwide.” said MBO’s General Manager of
Marketing and Sales, Ms Jamie Tiong.
“On that note,
we are calling all Malaysians and Internationals to help us fill the blood
banks for this year’s blood donation drive. Through their help and support, we
are hoping to achieve the collection of 6,000 pints of blood at 25 MBO outlets
nationwide.”, added Ms Jamie Tiong.
Photo credit to MBO Cinemas. |
Blood banks
need a constant supply of donations, as red blood cells can only last a maximum
of 42 days, while platelets can only be kept for five to seven days. Plasma can
be frozen and if kept in the right conditions, can keep well for years. The short
lifespan of some components is the reason why the blood bank is constantly in
need of supply. Also, despite a 25 percent of the population having blood type
A, it often runs short in the blood bank.
“Thanks to
organisations like MBO Cinemas for their continuous commitment to organise an
annual blood donation drive, 82,619 new donors have joined the cause nationwide
as compared to 76,213 new donors recorded in 2016. This is a positive sign as
the patients’ needs are being met under the Ministry of Health”, added Dr
Noryati Abu Amin.
An important
message the campaign also tries to highlight is the importance of giving blood
regularly so that the blood stock can be kept at sufficient levels before an
emergency arises. Only 2.2% out of 30 million Malaysians donate blood – which
is a far cry from the 3.5% – 5% recorded in more developed countries. On
average, government and private hospitals in Malaysia need to prepare around
2,000 bags of blood to support the needs of 1,000 patients per day.
Photo credit to St. John Ambulance Malaysia (SJAM) |
In conjunction
with St John Ambulance’s 110th Anniversary in Malaysia, a free CPR training and
demonstration exercise will be conducted in tandem with the blood donation
drive to celebrate their formation in Malaysia which stretches back over a
century. “Through this CPR training and demonstration exercise, we can educate
members of the community on the proper way to perform CPR, so that they are
capable of providing help and potentially saving the life of a person in need
of CPR, especially of a loved one.”, added Dato' Lai See Ming.
As a sign of gratitude to the donors, MBO will provide each donor with an exclusive goodie bag which includes MBO movie vouchers, snacks and a variety of vouchers from the generous sponsors of this year’s blood donation drive.
The nationwide
blood donation drive will be held on the 18th & 19th of August, from 11am –
6pm with the exception of Kedah and Johor where the dates will be the 17th
& 18th of August from 11am – 6pm.
Blood Connects
Us All.
Interested to know more about MBO’s Blood Donation Drive 5.0,
Website : http://www.mbocinemas.com
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/mbocinemas/
Instagram : http://www.instagram.com/mbocinemas/
Blood Donation Drive 5.0 : https://www.mbocinemas.com/bdd2018/
Blood Donation Drive 5.0 : https://www.mbocinemas.com/bdd2018/
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