A TOTAL of 1.29 million patients have received blood donated by Shenzhen residents, an awards ceremony organized by Shenzhen Red Cross Society and Shenzhen Blood Center said Saturday.

In Shenzhen, 3.87 million people have donated a total of 775 tons of blood in the 26 years since the free blood donation program was initiated. The city also received an award for being a model city for blood donation for 12 straight years.

At the ceremony, 110 people were awarded for their blood donations. The number of national gold prize winners in Shenzhen accounted for more than half of the number in Guangdong. In 2000, 27 national gold prize winners initiated the Shenzhen Red Cross Society Free Blood Donation Volunteer Service Team, devoting their spare time and resources to promote blood donation and recruit more donors.

“I have donated a total of 60,000 milliliters of blood in 165 sessions since I joined the service team. In 10 years, many of my friends and colleagues have joined the service team,” said Gong Shimin, a prolific blood donor, during an interview.

Since 2000, the city has recruited 42,000 stem cell donors among the blood donors and has successfully matched 290 donors with patients, becoming the No. 1 city in China in terms of the number of stem cell donations.

At the ceremony, Huang Deli, a stem cell recipient, shared his story of receiving stem cells from a donor named Huang Yan, who was also present at the ceremony.

(Han Ximin)