Beijing Red Cross Blood Center (BRCBC) appealed to the public Wednesday to donate Rh-blood to fill blood stocks for the 2008 Olympic Games.

 

Beijing plans to store 800 of the 200-ml units of Rh-blood for the Olympics, but so far the center in charge of collection has just 400 units, a BRCBC source said.

 

People of Rh-blood group are rare in China as they only account for 0.3 percent of the total population of the dominating Han ethnic group, the source said.

 

The Rh-blood group accounts for about 15 percent of Caucasians. Among China's ethnic groups, it makes up 5 percent of the Uygur ethnic group and one percent of the Mongolian ethnic group.

 

The BRCBC has already run through the full list of the city's blood donors seeking donations, the source said.

 

"All healthy Chinese citizens, no matter what type of blood they have, should contribute to the Olympic Games," said Yang Lan, a well-know TV anchorwoman and image ambassador for blood donation.

 

Last year, 435,000 Beijing residents donated blood and the city's blood stocks have depended entirely on local residents since 2005.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2007)