At the beginning of the program series, the possibility of donating blood was provided at 21 locations, currently 86 locations are waiting for blood donors and more than ten thousand successful blood donations have already taken place.

Every year, more people donate blood in the Civil Blood Donation program series - announced the Deputy State Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office responsible for civil and social relations at the blood donation organized as part of the series on Wednesday in Budapest.

Vince Szalay-Bobrovniczky said that the first civilian blood donation was organized in 2019, and the current one is already the tenth occasion.

The program was named Civil Blood Donation because it is implemented by the Deputy State Secretariat for Civil and Social Relations of the Prime Minister's Office with the involvement of Civil Community Service Centers, the National Blood Supply Service and the Hungarian Red Cross.

The deputy state secretary recalled that while there were 440 successful blood donations at the event in 2019, there were almost three thousand in the most recent program last fall. He added that

so far, more than ten thousand successful blood donations have taken place in the program series.

He also mentioned that at the beginning, the possibility of donating blood was provided at 21 locations, currently 86 locations are waiting for blood donors.

"With this, we contribute to the Hungarian people feeling safe in terms of their health as well," he said.

Anita Herczegh, wife of former president János Áder, chairman of the board of trustees of the Regőczi Foundation, chief patron of the Civil Blood Donation stated,

encourages everyone to donate blood, which can save the lives and health of others.

"I've been a regular blood donor since I was in university, and it feels good to know that I was able to help someone," he said. He added that donating blood to a healthy person is "almost nothing".

Sándor Nagy, the professional deputy general director of the National Blood Service, said that people between the ages of 18 and 60 who feel healthy can participate in donating blood. In the case of a regular blood donor, the age limit is 65 years.

MTI

Cover image: Blood donation at one of the Budapest stations of the Xth Civil Blood Donation program series, in the Báthory Street building of the Prime Minister's Office on February 21, 2024.
MTI/Noémi Bruzák