By Alverdtekoster Anyap & Rachel Mina
KUCHING: The Federation of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Divisions Chinese Association, Youth Section on Saturday (Oct 16) captured four out of the 10 challenge trophies at the Blood Donor Awards 2021 presentation ceremony here.
It won the Datuk Amar Puan Sri Dr Laila Taib Challenge Trophy for Lady Donors with a collection of 583 pints of blood and the General of Command (GOC) Wilayah II Trophy with 2,102 pints.
It also won the Teo Aik Challenge Trophy for the group category from organisations/clubs/associations with a collection of 1,102 pints as well as the Peter Jong Chi Jui and Monica Then Mei Jun Challenge Trophy for New Voluntary Blood Donors with 302 pints of blood.
The presentation ceremony, organised by the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, Kuching Branch, took place at its building at Jalan Reservoir here.
Meanwhile, Taiyo Yuden was awarded the Datuk Amar Abdul Karim Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg Challenge Trophy for the group category from corporations throughout Malaysia with a collection of 132 pints.
Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) also won the Dr Abang Rauf Abdul Zain Challenge Trophy for the group category from Sarawak government departments and statutory bodies with 152 pints of blood.
Meanwhile, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) won two trophies –- the Cho Bok Challenge Trophy for the group category from institutions of higher learning/schools (718 pints) and the Datuk Fatimah Abdullah Challenge Trophy for annual highest number of successful new lady blood donors of any organisation/department/institute of higher learning/corporation (167 pints).
The Dr Abang Yusof Abang Abdul Razak Challenge Trophy was awarded to the Malaysian Armed Forces, Kuching with a collection 795 pints of blood for the group category from federal government departments and statutory bodies.
Tay Motors was awarded the Lam Siong Khan Challenge Trophy in the group category from corporations within Sarawak with 1,586 pints.
After the award ceremony, a certificate of appreciation was presented to Vixsonday Francis Ketir by the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, Kuching Branch for donating the most blood at 145 pints.
Malaysian Red Crescent Society, Kuching Branch vice chairman II John Jong said despite the Covid-19 pandemic last year, they were still able to collect a lot of blood in the Kuching and Bau districts.
“We collected 15,727 pints of blood to meet the needs of the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) and other government and private hospitals in Kuching and Bau.
“These figures showed a drop of about 30.1 percent as compared to 2019,” he told reporters.
Jong, who is also the Blood Donors Recruitment Services Sub-Committee chairman, added there was good response from organisations, agencies, institutions and departments as well as communities to the blood donation campaigns.
He said the award ceremony was to thank those who had donated blood and helped those who in need of blood.
“Sarawak is the state with the highest collection of blood in the whole of Malaysia for the last 18 or 19 years.
“We recruit thousands of blood donors to meet the needs of the hospitals, which require about 80 to 90 pints per day,” he said.
Jong hoped more blood donation campaigns could be organised so that hospitals would enough blood supplies for their use.
“It was hard to get people to donate blood when the Covid-19 pandemic first hit Sarawak. However, there were some people who were willing to do so.
“With that, we will continue to work hard ensure that blood donation drives in Kuching and Bau remain strong,” he said.
