Blood donors will receive free testing packages.

Meaningful gift for blood donors

According to Nghe An Hematology and Blood Transfusion Center: The implementation of the "Gift Test Package" is carried out according to Circular 17/2020/TT-BYT effective from January 1, 2021. Accordingly, peopledonate bloodVolunteers also have the option of receiving gifts in the form of medical examination and treatment services.

The value of the gifts corresponds to the volume of blood donated. Specifically: Whole blood donorsvolunteercan receive a test gift package worth 100,000 VND (for donated blood units with a volume of 250ml), 150,000 VND (for donated blood units with a volume of 350ml), 180,000 VND (for donated blood units with a volume of 450ml).

Officers and soldiers of Workshop 467, Technical Department, Military Region 4 participate in voluntary blood donation. Photo: Thanh Chung

Volunteer donors who separate blood components (donate platelets, donate white blood cells, etc.) can choose to receive a test gift package worth 150,000 VND, 200,000 VND or 250,000 VND (corresponding to the volume of donated blood products).

Therefore, Nghe An Hematology and Blood Transfusion Center has developed 8 testing packages for blood donors and voluntary blood component donors corresponding to the type of donation and donated blood.

Each test package is a combination of many different tests that can be suitable for the blood donor's health check-up needs, such as evaluating liver function, kidney function, sugar, protein, fat metabolism, examining abnormal biological signs, etc.

The test packages developed by Nghe An Hematology and Blood Transfusion Center include basic but quite diverse test combinations, meeting the health check-up needs of blood donors.

Officers of the Provincial Police Detention Center voluntarily donate blood to save lives. Photo: Thanh Chung

When donating blood, donors will be given specific advice for each package. For example, for young people of childbearing age, there is a test package to evaluate blood production (red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets), iron absorption, screening for congenital hemolytic disease, etc.

For blood donors after the age of 35, there are screening tests for diabetes, protein and fat metabolism, liver and kidney function, gout risk, etc. For blood donors after the age of 45, in addition to the above tests, there is also a screening test package for some markers related to the condition of the lungs, liver, digestive system, kidneys, prostate, uterus, ovaries, etc.

After donating blood, blood donors have the right to receive a “Gift Test Package” or traditional gifts. If there is a request to receive a gift package, medical staff will take a blood sample to conduct health check-up tests according to the gift test package chosen by the blood donor.

After a few days, blood donors can receive the results of health check-ups and other tests not included in the gift package (blood type and some blood-borne pathogens) sent by the Center via e-mail, Zalo messages, phone messages, etc.

Bring many practical benefits

Also according to Nghe An Hematology and Blood Transfusion Center: Blood donors choose and receive a test gift package that can help detect and screen for early abnormalities to adjust their diet and lifestyle and have useful suggestions for more specialized medical care.

The officers and soldiers of the Armed Forces were very excited to donate blood and receive a health check-up gift. Photo: Thanh Chung

These tests are very basic and are used to evaluate many health conditions and diseases, so the changes in the indicators after blood donations and tests can be very useful for blood donors to better understand their own health.

Dr. Nguyen Dinh Khue - Director of Nghe An Hematology and Blood Transfusion Center shared: One thing to note is that the gift allowance according to regulations is not much, while a person may want to do many tests. Therefore, each time donating blood, you can choose different test packages.

Currently, of the 8 packages that the center has created, the package with the highest cost is 250,000 VND (equivalent to the highest donation level). In the condition that the donor has a test gift package with a lower value than the desired test gift package, they can spend a little more to receive the desired test gift package.

In case the value of the desired test gift package is lower than the value of the available test gift package, the center will refund the difference to the donor. If the value of the desired test gift package is higher than the value of the available test gift package (less than 10%), the center will support the difference in cost - Dr. Nguyen Dinh Khue clearly stated.

After its implementation, the “Testing Gift Package” has received great attention and response from the blood donor community. The vast majority of donors were very excited to receive this new gift. On March 23 alone, during the blood donation and blood collection campaign in Cua Lo town, more than 300 people received the gift of a blood test package to check their health instead of other gifts.

On the morning of March 24, at the Nghe An Hematology and Blood Transfusion Center, 46 officers and soldiers from Workshop 467, the Technical Department, Military Region 4 and the Nghe An Provincial Police Detention Center donated blood. All 46 officers and soldiers were very excited to register to receive a gift package for blood tests to check their health.

Medical staff perform blood tests to check the health of voluntary blood donors. Photo: Thanh Chung

It can be said that the implemented test gift package has, is and will bring many benefits to many parties: For agencies and facilities receiving blood from voluntary donors, it saves the trouble of buying souvenirs. Blood receiving facilities have more information about the health of blood donors to serve the health consultation work for blood donors to better protect the source of blood donors. In addition, it also meets the Ministry of Health's policy of establishing electronic health records for each citizen nationwide./.