JEDDAH, 16 December 2007 — Connecting those willing to give blood and those needing it has never been easier in Saudi Arabia. A recently established website — http://freeblood.com — that began in 2003 as an effort by a group of young Saudis has seen its membership explode.
“The website started with 350 members,” said Khalaf Al-Joudi. Today the website boasts of at least 10,680 members.
According to Al-Joudi, foreigners get surprised when they notice that the members offer their blood for free.
“At first they expect that the site works as an intermediate between those who need blood and those who sell their blood,” said Al-Joudi.
But those foreigners are wrong. The site links people who need blood with those willing to give it. Indexed by Saudi cities, the website acts as an intermediary that matches people with the same blood types.
A new feature added this year includes linking children with diseases that require regular blood transfusions with adults willing to regularly donate their blood to facilitate this treatment. One of the reasons why the website has been a success is because it collects members who are willing to donate blood, creating a good will database from which patients can search.
“The guardian of a child registers at the website. Then he gets a separate password-protected page,” said Al-Joudi. “There he can have up to 10 local donors registered who are willing to donate. The guardian then can make arrangements directly with the donors.”
Among the people that the website helped is a woman who needed a blood transfer following hemorrhaging during delivery. “Six people came to the location by midday,” he said.
Al-Joudi also recollected a 10-year-old boy who managed to find several blood donors for his father even though it was the busy last days of Ramadan.
Ali Sheneamer has been a member since 2003, and says the gesture transcends religious or national duties.
“The site should not be labeled as Saudi, Arab, or as an Islamic site,” said Shemeamer. “(The members) do not have pressure put on them, and when they say ‘I will come’ they do.”
Shemeamer also suggested that blood banks at different hospitals start using the website instead of just looking among family members.
Typically about 450 ml of blood is taken from donors between the ages of 18 and 65 and of healthy weight. Donors are given health screening to ensure that the donation won’t affect their health and that their blood is free of infectious viruses or bacteria. Donating blood may even be healthy; some doctors say donating blood stimulates the body to increase circulation.
Freeblood.com isn’t the only use of modern communications technology in Saudi Arabia.
“Six-year-old boy suffering from blood cancer and needs blood donation,” reads an SMS message recently circulated among people in Jeddah. “Please forward the SMS. You might help the child without knowing.”
This SMS message quickly found its way across the region, not just in and around Jeddah. Nisreen Abu Znada, the aunt of the 10-year-old boy, said the family disseminated the SMS message among friends.
“Then it was spread all over, even on the Internet,” she said. “More that 20 persons come to us daily willing to donate.”
