PHUKET: A blood donation drive in honour of the recent birthday of Her Majesty the Queen Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana was organised at Limelight Avenue in Phuket Town yesterday (June 5).
The drive was held on the second floor of the Limelight Avenue complex between 11am and 6pm and attracted a total of 134 people who volunteered to donate blood.
Of that number, 115 were permitted to donate, with 19 denied due to a variety of reasons.
The first 100 volunteers that donated their blood were rewarded with a 1-kilogram bag of Chat rice as part of a sponsorship by The Charoen Pokphand Group. Further commemorative souvenirs were distributed to the remaining donors.
The campaign was organised by the Phuket Sports Association in conjunction with the Phuket Chamber of Commerce, Phuket Tourism Business Association, JD Pools Co. Ltd, Limelight Avenue Phuket and the Blood Bank facility from Vachira Phuket Hospital.
Representing the supporting companies at yesterday’s donation drive were Thammawat Wongcharoenyot, President of the Sports Association of Phuket; Kusak Khupongsakorn, President of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce; Thanet Tantipiriyakit, President of the Phuket Tourism Business Association; Thanusak Puengdech, Director of JD Pools Co. Ltd; and Ampai Sangwijit, Head of the Blood Bank facility at Vachira Phuket Hospital.
The initiative was organised to honour the 45th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Suthida, which fell last Saturday (June 3).
It follows a series of blood donation campaigns organised by the Phuket chapter of the Thai Red Cross and Vachira Phuket Hospital last month in an effort to replenish reserves in their blood banks, as medics in Phuket and nearby provinces face shortages due to an increasing number of road accidents and other emergencies.
Prior to this there was a similar event on Apr 10 staged at Limelight Avenue as part of a mobile blood donation campaign organised by the Blood Bank facility at Vachira Phuket Hospital which focused specifically on foreigners donating.
