Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing Parliament: The blood supply at the National Blood Center and government hospitals is only critical during festive seasons, school holidays or long public holidays as at such times, there will be shortage of blood supply, member of parliament for Bintulu Tiong King Sing said today. He said at such times, there was a marked increase of road accidents throughout the country, which correspondingly saw a sudden increase in the usage of blood transfusions at hospitals. "There was an increase of blood usage especially there were numerous cases relating to dengue recently, " he said, in reference to the reply by Health Minister Dato' Chua Jui Meng at the current Parliament session. Tiong had asked Health Minister to reveal the steps taken by the Ministry to ensure the blood supply is sufficient, as the blood supply at the National Blood Centre and government hospitals are always in critical levels. He said the Ministry has taken initiatives to ensure the blood supply both at the National Blood Center and government hospitals are adequate and sufficient. Among the steps, he said, are to organize intensive public education through the mass media to instill awareness on the importance of blood donating and to get support from non-government organizations so that they could take initiatives in organizing blood donation campaigns constantly. "The ministry is also encouraging huge multinational corporations and public companies in Kuala Lumpur to organize frequent blood donation campaigns and get their subsidiaries in zones or states to hold similar efforts to assist the state hospital, " he said. Tiong said one other important factor in keeping the blood donation going was to work closely with the media especially in getting wider news coverage and publicity on blood donations. "The ministry is doubling its efforts to publicize the importance of blood donation in institutions of higher learning, both private and public, as the students are most suitable and qualified blood donors, " he added. Tiong also said the ministry had and would continue to hold trainings for members of voluntary clubs and non-government organizations on how to carry out a more effective and quality blood donation drive. Apart from this, Tiong said, the ministry has realized the importance of increasing the number of staff and vehicles for the National Blood Center and hospitals so that more blood donation mobile clinics could be carried out and thus, increasing the daily collection of blood. Tiong also urged associations and non-government organizations in Bintulu to assit the Bintulu hospital to organize similar blood donation campaigns to ensure the blood supply at the hospital is adequate. He added that the Bintulu hospital visitors' board should also work hand in hand with the hospital administration to carry out the blood donation campaigns on regular basis. "This is important to ensure members of the public in Bintulu to come forward and assist the hospital with the co-operation from the hospital visitors' board to carry out the blood donation campaigns. Many lives depend on adequate blood supply at the hospital, " he said...END.