A TOTAL of 127 Indians living in Shanghai donated blood at the Shanghai Blood Center on Saturday.

It is the seventh group donation of the campaign with the theme “Love Shanghai, the Life Gift from India,” officials said. Since the first donation in 2013, Indian people have donated over 1,000 units (one unit is 200 milliliters) of blood under the scheme.

Vivek Arora, who has been living in the city for 30 years, gave the 1,000th unit donation Saturday and said it is lucky for him. He and his family use blood donation as a way to thank the city and its people.

There are over 200,000 foreigners living and working in the city. The Shanghai Blood Center encourages foreigners to donate blood.

Some blood types like RH negative are rare among Asians but more common among foreigners. It is found in 15 to 20 percent of Caucasians and 5 percent among Africans but less than 0.4 percent among the Han population in China.

People with RH negative account for 5.7 percent of Indians. So encouraging them to donate is very important to ensure the supply of RH negative blood, local health officials said.

(Shanghai Daily)