Volunteers proudly display their blood donation certificates. The China RH Union is looking for more donors to help the small number of people with rhesus negative blood in China. (Photos provided to China Daily)
Only a small number of people in China have rhesus negative blood, and a lack of supplies can be potentially life-threatening if they need an urgent transfusion. Zhou Wenting reports from Shanghai.
Xie Yingfeng recently quit his job to devote himself to an NGO that helps people with a rare blood type find donors who could potentially save their lives.
There are four human blood types: A, B, AB, and O. Each has a rhesus factor, either positive or negative. Generally, people with rhesus negative blood can only receive transfusions of their own type, while rhesus positive carriers can receive blood from both positive and negative donors.
Only three in every 1,000 Chinese has rhesus negative blood, so in the words of an old phrase they are "as rare as a panda", which has led to it being known as "panda blood". Moreover, many people have no idea whether their blood type is rhesus negative or positive until they need a transfusion.
The small number of people with rhesus negative blood means there is an equally small number of donors, which poses serious problems for people who require urgent transfusions, especially women who have postpartum hemorrhages.
Volunteers
Xie, 38, is the Shanghai regional head of the China RH Union, an NGO founded by volunteers in Beijing, most of whom have rhesus negative blood. Nationally the organization has about 4,000 members.
Every year, the Shanghai branch assists about 40 people who approach it in search of blood donations. For each case, Xie may receive as many as 200 phone calls from the patient's family, volunteers, friends and even strangers who have read online posts for donors.
"It's hard for me to do 9-to-5 office work because my phone is likely to ring constantly," said the former construction materials salesman, who is currently living on his savings, but is considering selling delicacies from his hometown of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, to earn more money.
On a typical day, he spends hours confirming patients' requests, rushing to the hospital or calling their physicians, and accompanying volunteers when they donate blood.
"The aim behind the union is that when people of the same kind are in trouble, we can stand up for each other," said Xie, who is rhesus negative himself. In the 12 years since it was founded, the union has helped more than 3,000 people nationwide.
Having spent 12 years helping other people, Xie has become less interested in material wealth, which is another reason he quit his job.
The union was founded in 2005 by Beijing resident Wang Yong, who was deeply touched by media coverage of a rhesus negative leukemia patient who had been forced to abandon medical treatment because of a shortage of suitable donors.
Although Wang has a positive blood type, he began researching the condition and discovered that millions of people across the country are carriers: "I was an IT engineer, so I set up an online platform to make it less difficult to obtain blood for this small group."
At first, the union－which has branches in 26 provinces and municipalities－received just one or two calls a week, but it now fields as many as 20 a day. The regional heads, who never turn off their cellphones in case they are called for help, collect information about patients, verify their medical information, post messages to volunteers via an online chat group and search for donors.
