Fourth year students from the Faculty of Arts at Sana’a University donated dozens of liters of blood to the poor at Al-Jimhori Hospital of the capital Sana’a.

Over 200 students offered to donate blood to the hospital on condition that the blood is not sold and given free of charge to those in most need for the blood. Students had medical tests that enabled them to donate their blood to the poor. “When we donate blood, we are not doing much. But on the other hand, we help others in a strong way,” said Sana Al-Sabri, one of the students who donated blood and an organizer of the campaign.

The students who named the campaign as the ‘journey to success’, refused to donate their blood to the Blood Bank, because the blood is sold to others and not given free of charge. They tried to convince the bank that the blood they give needs to be given to the poor without charge, but the bank refused to cooperate, and wanted to treat the situation as a  business. They then tried to go to Al-Thawrah hospital, however, the hospital informed them that they cannot give away the blood for free, and they will be forced to sell it, therefore making the students turn to Al-Jimhori Hospital after management promised that the blood will not be sold. “We want to ensure that when we donate, the blood reaches those in need and free of charge. Blood is very expensive, and many families cannot afford it,” added Al-Sabri.

Each student gave according to his ability, and the average amount of blood donated by each student exceeds one liter.

Students at the faculty will not stop there, as they plan to also donate money and cloth to poor residents in rural areas. “Donating does not mean to give money, but rather to give anything that can help, and we are doing what we can to help,” said Al-Sabri. In the next couple of weeks, a number of students will be heading to Tahama and other rural areas with huge bags of goods and cloth to give to residents of Tahama.

Blood donation in Yemen is not famous among locals even with the great need for it. Various ways, such as accidents, childbirth, surgery, or severe illness can deplete the amount of blood in a person, and these are all spread in Yemen to a great extent.

For safety reasons, a person should not donate blood if he has a chronic disease ex. (diabetes, hypertension, lung disease, cancer, blood disease etc.) or any other acute condition ex. (flu, infection, fever, diarrhea etc). “The procedures we go through takes time, but they need to make sure that we don’t harm others with the intention of helping them, and that is why all the tests are taken before the donation can be completed” concluded Al-Sabri.”