Blood donation for traffic accident victims

Every year, the provincial health sector needs thousands of units of blood to serve the treatment and emergency care of patients, including many victims of traffic accidents. Based on that reality, voluntary blood donation activities are of interest to all classes of people in the province, contributing to saving the lives of traffic accident victims in time.

Emergency surgery for traffic accident victims at Tien Yen District Medical Center.

Tien Yen District Medical Center has just performed surgery to save the life of a 26-year-old male patient who suffered from a traffic accident with multiple closed abdominal injuries, a severed mesenteric artery, and severe hemorrhagic shock. During the surgery, the patient lost a lot of blood and needed an urgent blood transfusion, while the unit's blood reserve did not have enough type A blood.

While waiting for blood from the Provincial General Hospital, the Center's leaders mobilized local blood resources to promptly transfuse the patient. Doctor Nguyen Trung Kien and nurses Nguyen Thi Thanh and Nguyen Thi Lanh donated blood to save the patient. After more than 1 hour of surgery and resuscitation, the patient was out of danger and recovered.

Nurse Nguyen Thi Lanh, Tien Yen District Medical Center *(right)* , donates blood to help traffic accident victims.

Recently, a 57-year-old male patient who had a traffic accident was treated at Cam Pha General Hospital. The patient had a 15cm long wound on the right side of his neck that bled profusely. The emergency team quickly performed first aid to temporarily stop the bleeding and transferred him to the Provincial General Hospital. Determining this to be a critical case, the doctors at the Provincial General Hospital quickly activated the "red alert" and transferred the patient directly to the operating room. The Intensive Care, Surgery, Orthopedic Trauma, Neurology - Spine, and Eye - Ear, Nose and Throat teams were quickly mobilized to help treat the patient. After 3 hours of surgery with 2.5 liters of blood transfused, the surgery was successful, saving the patient's life.

According to Dr. Pham Viet Hung, Head of the Department of Surgery, Provincial General Hospital, the blood vessels in the neck are large in size, supplying blood to the brain, near the heart, located next to the airways and important nerves; the damage is very difficult to treat, with a high mortality rate. Initial first aid to stop bleeding in these cases is extremely important, helping the victim save their life. Therefore, victims with bleeding wounds in the neck need to have the injured area tightly bandaged and quickly taken to the nearest medical facility for timely emergency care.

After surgery, the traffic accident patient was monitored, treated and cared for at the Intensive Care and Anti-Poison Department, Provincial General Hospital.

These are just 2 of hundreds of traffic accident victims in the province who receive timely blood donations each year. Due to the huge demand for blood for traffic accident victims in hospitals, in recent years, the Provincial Red Cross has coordinated to organize many voluntary blood donation activities, with the average amount of blood received increasing by over 15% per year. In 2022 alone, the whole province received 18,962 units of blood, an increase of 3,554 units of blood compared to 2021. In the first 4 months of 2023, the whole province organized 37 voluntary blood donation campaigns, attracting nearly 11,000 people to register to donate blood, receiving 9,296 units of blood, reaching 54.6% of the blood target for 2023. Quang Ninh ranked 13th out of 63 provinces and cities in the country with a high rate of blood donation.

This is the effort and responsibility of the Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation at all provincial levels in implementing humanitarian blood donation. The propaganda work for voluntary blood donation is constantly expanded and widely spread in each agency, organization, enterprise and people. Especially the role of clubs, associations, groups, and households participating in blood donation, along with the active participation of over 8,000 Red Cross volunteers.

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