Executive Director of Blood Transfusion Services at HMC, Dr. Aysha Ibrahim Almalki
Doha: Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC)’s new Blood Donor Center with expanded facilities has the capacity to receive an increased number of donors.
In its new permanent location, the Blood Donor Center enables people to donate blood and blood components easily and conveniently.
Executive Director of Blood Transfusion Services at HMC, Dr. Aysha Ibrahim Almalki, said that the Blood Donor Center was moved to the new location due to the steady increase in blood donors over the past few years, as she said more youths and and community members are coming forward to donate blood and hold blood donation drives. “It’s our vision to establish a national blood collection centre with state-of-the-art facilities, to be offered to the generous blood donors of Qatar,” Dr. Almalki told The Peninsula.
“New location for the Blood Donor Center was selected with the blood donors’ convenience in mind. It is strategically located with access from two main streets of Doha (Al Rayyan Road and Mohammed Bin Thani Street),” she added.
The new Blood Donor Center can accommodate up to 200 donors at a time. The capacity is much higher compared to the previous centre which could accommodate 25 donors at a time.
“The vast space offered in the new Blood Donor Center facility will enable more organisations and communities to host blood donation drives at the facility itself. This is in the event of lack of space or when mobile blood collection trucks are unavailable,” said Dr. Almalki.
The new Blood Donor Center has dedicated comprehensive facilities for male and female donors. These include separate receptions, waiting areas, interview rooms, blood collection rooms, and post-donation resting areas. The facility has parking space for over 200 vehicles and segregated prayer areas and donor cafes.
“The new Blood Donor Center will also host the collection all types of blood and blood products (including whole blood and platelet Apheresis) under one roof. Unlike in the past, donors will not have to visit multiple donor centres, thus saving time. In future, we intend to install self-registration kiosks for donors to register themselves in both Arabic and English,” said Dr. Almalki.
“The new Blood Donor Center is also structured to receive large number of donors responding in the event of an emergency,” she added.
According to Dr. Almalki, on average up to 80 donors are received at the Blood Donor Center in a day. This number vastly increases on days when specific blood types are required.
“We take this opportunity to thank all those who voluntarily donate blood at Blood Donor Center, we are always impressed by the extraordinary efforts of our blood donors who continue to donate determinedly,” she added.
“This selfless act of blood donation has assisted in the care of different type of patients in need of blood and blood components,” said Dr. Almalki.
Blood Donor Center receives donors in the holy month of Ramadan from 6pm to 12 midnight.
HMC, in collaboration with the Al Faisal Without Borders Foundation (Alf), has also launched a Ramadan blood donation campaign. It will continue throughout Ramadan and Eid holidays.
“We have a dedicated blood donation drive at City Center mall throughout Ramadan, where blood donors can register and donate daily from 7:30pm to 12midnight. In addition, blood collection trucks are periodically based at malls and public parks like Corniche and Aspire,” said Dr. Almalki.
