More than 11,000 units of Blood collected since launch of ‘BE THE 1' Blood Donation Campaign in Dubai.

• ‘BE THE 1' blood donation campaign launched in Dubai in June 2016 in partnership with Real Madrid football star Cristiano Ronaldo.
• As part of the campaign, DHA's blood donation buses has been holding mobile blood donation camps across different locations in the emirate of Dubai 

Dubai, UAE, July 20, 2016:  In the last three months, since the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) launched the ‘BE THE 1' blood donation campaign in Dubai in partnership with Real Madrid football star Cristiano Ronaldo, the Dubai Blood Donation Centre(DBDC) has collected more than 11,000 units of blood, said a top health official.

Dr Mai Raouf, Director of the DBDC thanked community members for their support as blood collected at the centre is solely through voluntary blood donations. “ Since the launch of the campaign, we collected 11,653 units of blood. Of the units of blood collected, 4622 were collected at the centre, 4421 were collected during campaigns and 2610 were collected through mobile blood donation buses.

“We are meeting the demand for the emirate and this is due to the support of our community members. My message to the community is that those who have rare or negative blood groups should register with the DBDC so that we can call them if the need arises. I would also like to inform the public that it is safe to donate blood every eight weeks, and platelets up to 24 times a year. Blood donation takes only 15 minutes and in return it provides patients with a life-line.

“Donating blood helps save millions of lives each year. Blood and blood products are essential not only for emergency medical situations but also for long-term treatments. The aim of the campaign is to encourage the youth to regularly donate blood and help save lives.”

As part of this campaign, DHA's blood donation buses have been holding mobile blood donation camps across different locations in the emirate of Dubai, to encourage the community to donate blood and to raise awareness about importance of this humanitarian initiative that directly helps save lives.

The DBDC is the first centre in the UAE and one of the few centres in the Middle East to achieve the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) accreditation.

The DBDC is located in the premises of Latifa Hospital. Donors can walk-in to donate blood from 7:30 am to 7 pm on weekdays.  Those interested can call the centre at 04-2193221.