Shoura Council members and staff have been donating blood throughout the week at their headquarters in Riyadh.

Assistant Speaker of the Shoura Council Yahya bin Abdullah Al-Samaan inaugurated the campaign at the council’s headquarters on Sunday. The campaign ended Thursday.

The program was arranged in coordination with the Riyadh Blood Bank through the Riyadh health department. Adnan bin Sulaiman Al-Abdulkarim, director general of the department, and Assistant Supervisor of the Medical Clinic of the Shoura Council Mohammed bin Mohamed bin Mastour Al-Zahrani were also present during the event.

In his speech, Al-Abdulkarim thanked the Speaker of the Shoura Council Abdullah Al-Asheikh for initiating the campaign. Director General of the Office of the Chairman of the Shoura Council Mohanna Al-Mohanna told Arab News that the response has been good.

Blood donors can donate up to 450ml blood (one unit) every two-and-a-half to three months. This amount is small, given that the body contains five to six liters (10 to 12 units) of blood. It takes 30 minutes to donate blood.

A standard health screening procedure is carried out prior to the extraction of blood. Each donor undergoes tests for blood pressure, glucose and hemoglobin count. The checks also include communicable diseases.

There are different types of blood groups such as O positive and negative, A positive and negative, B positive and negative, and AB positive and negative. Distribution may be different for specific ethnic groups, but in an emergency, anyone can receive type O Negative red blood cells. Therefore, people with type O blood are “universal donors,” and those with type AB blood are known as “universal recipients.”

According to a royal decree issued in 1405H, the Ministry of Health does not import blood from abroad. They are collected from residents and citizens, who make voluntary contributions regularly.

The twenty health directorates in the Kingdom make their own arrangements with voluntary blood donors. An official from the Health Ministry said there are 152 blood banks throughout the Kingdom, which include 15 central blood banks, 17 large blood banks and 120 more to cover all the regions.

An official from the general directorate of blood banks and laboratories said people can donate blood at their own convenience. He said there are 20,000 voluntary blood donors who were awarded the Third Degree Medal from the late King Abdullah for their services to the nation.

More than 500,000 citizens, who are voluntary blood donors, are registered with the blood banks throughout the Kingdom. Some of these donors give blood several times depending on their physical health, the official said.