Beijing residents, prompted by an earlier report on shortage of A-type blood in the Municipal Red Cross, showed their enthusiasm for blood donation by braving the snowy weather Thursday, said Friday edition of the Beijing News.

More than 50 donors visited the center's specialized bus parked on the pedestrian street at Wangfujing, one of the key business centers in Beijing, by 7:40 PM on Thursday, and 15 A-type blood donors donated 6,000 ml of the badly needed A-type blood, the newspaper said.

According to the newspaper, the blood center altogether collected 882 units of blood -- each unit equivalent to 200 ml-- through its 13 specialized buses across downtown areas of the city on Thursday alone, including 315 units of A-type blood.

The newspaper's Thursday edition carried a report saying the blood center in the national capital, which is responsible for supplying blood to over 300 hospitals in the city, was almost running out of blood stock, especially A-type blood.

Factors such as cold weather, many students of colleges of higher learning either preparing for final exams of the semester on campus or having left town for vacation, plus transient workers who are also heading for home to spend the forthcoming Spring Festival with their beloved ones are blamed for a decrease in the volume of donated blood.

However, information from major hospitals in the national capital all claimed to have stable supplies of blood, and the A-type blood kept in stock with their respective blood banks could just meet the demand in clinical surgery.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2006)