Medical students donate blood to help fight COVID-19
Dozens of students at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine donated blood at the Shanghai Blood Center on Wednesday to help those infected by novel coronavirus.
Over recent weeks, more than 150 medical students have made blood donations at the center. A few overseas students have joined them, too.
In the latest round of contributions, 61 students came to the center and 42 were found qualified to donate blood. Several of them had donated blood before and five students donated 400 milliliters, more than usual.
Tang Shengluan is a student majoring in clinical medicine from Hubei Province. This year, due to the outbreak of coronavirus in Hubei, she couldn't return home during winter vacation.
According to Tang, when she saw teams of local medical workers departing to support her home province, she felt gratitude and respect. "I'm grateful to them because they are saving people in my hometown regardless of difficulties. And I'm respectful because they fight against the coronavirus on the frontline regardless of the danger."
Previously, she could only browse news related to the coronavirus in her dormitory and was not sure how she could make any contributions to epidemic prevention and control. After hearing about the blood donation drive, she saw her chance to offer help and signed up at once.
Another donor Huang Jingyi recalled that when severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) spread worldwide in 2003, she was just a primary school student.
"This time the coronavirus is threatening the whole world and I'm a medical student. Although I'm unable to support the frontline, I have the passion to battle the virus," Huang said. "When I saw my school calling on students to donate blood, I signed up with my schoolmates. I feel my mission as a future medical worker and will take those working on the frontline as my model."
Among the 42 was Hong Hiju, a foreign student from South Korea. She is a doctoral candidate in surgery at the school who previously helped raise medical supplies for Ruijin Hospital staff on the frontline in Wuhan.
Hubei Province native Tang Shengluan, a student majoring in clinical medicine, donates blood at the Shanghai Blood Center.
Hong Hiju, a student from South Korea, donates blood at the Shanghai Blood Center.
