Doctor shows way with donations of 100 liters of platelet
Top platelet donors are honored on Saturday.
Shanghai is encouraging more people to donate platelet, and has built a team of regular donors.
More than 1,800 people have donated 10 liters of platelet, with the highest record nearly 100 liters, said the Shanghai Blood Center, which honored leading platelet donors on Saturday.
Shanghai collected 76,741 units of platelet (200 milliliters per unit) last year, rising by 2.8 percent from 2021.
Platelet is an important medical resource for the treatment of patients with leukemia and cancer. However, platelet donation is not as popular as whole blood donation, since it takes much longer and has a higher requirement for donors, said officials from Shanghai Blood Center.
The storage time for each unit of platelet is only five days, so regular and continuous donation is important for clinical practice.
The interval for platelet donation is 14 days, far shorter than the six-month requirement for full blood donation.
Dr Yang Jianhui has the record for platelet donation. Since 2008, he has donated platelet every two weeks and has donated nearly 500 units so far.
"As a doctor, I clearly know the importance of blood and platelet for patients," he said.
"I want to use myself as a role model to show that platelet donation doesn't impose risk to health. I am also a fan of marathon. I went to receive a health check for platelet donation after finishing a marathon and I still qualified. It means regular platelet donation never harms health.
"I hope more people join the team of platelet donation to save more patients."
Dr Yang Jianhui donates platelet.
