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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Blood donation drive sets Guinness record

Oman breaks world Record
Oman breaks world Record
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Lakshmi Kothaneth -

Muscat, Nov 27 -


The national blood donation campaign created a record with more than 5,500 people across the Sultanate registering to donate blood on Tuesday.


An official from the Guinness Book of World Records confirmed that the number — 5,500 — was a record for the maximum number of people who have registered for blood donation.


Those who have signed up have 28 days to donate.


“The Ministry of Health has achieved the magic number of 5,500. You are amazing,” he said.


The result of the blood donation drive was announced at a ceremony held under the auspices of Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Saeedi, Minister of Health.


Dr Khalid al Balushi, Head of the Blood Bank Services and head of the campaign, said: “We could have gone ahead with this campaign, but we wanted to coordinate with an external agency where we had to challenge ourselves and feel the motivation to compete.”


That is how we came up with the idea of setting a Guinness record, he said.


The centres designated for the campaign came to life as doors opened at 9 am. Donors from across governorates came forward to donate blood.


As soon as donors arrived, the Ministry of Health staff were waiting to assist them in registering themselves. They needed the civil card to register both manually and electronically.


“Many people managed to donate today itself, while others can come back and donate on any of these 28 days,” said Dr Al Balushi.


Once the registration process was completed, donors were taken to a room where their blood samples were collected to check for haemoglobin levels.


Their weight, blood pressure and other health parameters were also monitored. Those weighing less than 50 kg could not donate.


Once the blood samples were approved, donors were taken to another room for donating blood.


In Muscat, the designated centres for blood donation were the Blood Donation Services Department in Bausher and the Oman Convention and Exhibition Center. The other centres were Sultan Qaboos Youth, Culture and Entertainment Complex in Dhofar; Nizwa Cultural Centre in Al Dhakhiliya; Omani Women’s Association in South Al Batinah; Sohar University in North Al Batinah; Al Buraimi University College in Al Buraimi; College of Applied Sciences in Al Dhahira; Ibra College of Technology in North Al Sharqiyah; and Sur Sports Complex in Al Sharqiyah


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