Thirty-six workers at a textile printing firm donated 7,400 cc of blood voluntarily to a Taiwanese manager to help him through major heart surgery at the weekend.

 

Shih Ming-ching, 35, of the Taiwan-invested Nanhai Junrong Textile Printing Co, was diagnosed with serious heart disease at the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Hospital last week. He underwent urgent surgery on Saturday.

 

Shih needed 10,000 cc of type A blood for the procedure, but the hospital could get only 3,000 cc from the blood bank in the city.

 

Workers at his company in Foshan, south China's Guangdong Province, were told of the emergency on Saturday morning. Dozens of employees offered immediately to donate their blood, even though many did not even know their type.

 

Nine who knew their blood types rushed to Guangzhou immediately and the rest had tests in Foshan, before 27 of them set off to join their colleagues to donate blood.

 

After the group donation, the employees came back so late on Saturday that they missed the company's Spring Festival dinner.

 

Shih remained in an intensive care unit of the hospital after the surgery, his wife told China Daily.

 

She added: "I am deeply thankful for what they did for my husband. Without their help, he might have left us at any time.

 

"When disaster strikes, help comes from all sides."

 

The doctor in charge of the case said the speedy response by workers meant there was no delay in the surgery, which passed smoothly.

 

The help Shih received can be seen as a reward for what he has done to help others.

 

Since coming to Foshan in 1999, he has been donating money for Project Hope, which funds poor children to go to school.

 

"I hope he can wake up soon and recover so that we can pay back to society and do our best to help those in need," his wife said.

 

(China Daily January 24, 2006)