Despite efforts by the NUS Red Cross Humanitarian Network chapter to recruit blood donors, less than two percent of the 28,000-strong student population at NUS responded to the call for blood.

According to Zhuang Yuhang, president of the NUS Red Cross chapter, nearly 600 students turned up at the three-day blood drive held Oct. 3 at the NUS Sports and Recreation Centre.

“Out of close to 600 (students), only 439 are able to donate,” Zhuang said, adding that “more than 20 percent (of potential donors) are unable to donate for one reason or another.”

“We have such a big population, and 400-plus is still just (the) tip of the population,” he said.

Zhuang said the NUS Red Cross chapter has made extensive efforts to recruit blood donors at NUS through multiple avenues. For instance, donor recruitment booths were set up across the different faculties to collect donation pledges. Other publicity efforts included displaying posters and banners around campus, sending out email circulars and even broadcasting text messages through mobile phones.

“There were reviews that our publicity was quite comprehensive, in that most people do know of our drive,” he said.

Chua Weihang, a third-year computer engineering major, was one of those who said the publicity for the blood donation drive was effective.

“I received an SMS (Short Message Service), and also an email informing me of the blood drive,” Chua said.

According to Zhuang, fewer than 300 students pledged to donate blood at the donor recruitment booths despite the publicity efforts.

Daniel Soh, vice president of the NUS Red Cross chapter, said reasons such as myths and fears of donating blood might have caused the lukewarm response among NUS students.

“(One) myth is that with each blood donation, you actually age a year,” Soh said.

Zhuang agreed with Soh.

“Rumors like these actually get passed around like wildfire,” he said.

First-year arts student Vanessa Chang, who was one of the blood donors, said the fears of blood donation are exaggerated.

“People think it’s very pain(ful), Chang said, “but it’s really not the case.”

Chang added that donors have an important role to play in dispelling the fears of donating blood.

“Maybe donors can get their friends to come along to donate blood together,” she said. “I think this is a good way to encourage more people to donate blood.”

Chua echoed Chang’s sentiments.

“I had my first (blood) donation last semester, when my friend asked me along,” he said. “Of course, the more the merrier.”

According to an appeal memo sent out by the Health Sciences Authority, the national bloodstock level is currently running low and has reached an “uncomfortable level” due to an increase in blood usage by local hospitals.

“Collection from the ‘Bloodbank@HSA’ and at the ‘bloodmobile drives’ cannot keep up with the demand,” the memo stated.

Shirley Ng, manager of the Red Cross Humanitarian Network donor recruitment programme, said local hospitals need around 300 units of blood daily. She added that the national blood bank and the mobile blood drives each collect around 70-100 units of blood daily.

“So if you do a mental addition, the collection doesn’t really meet the demand at all,” she said.

Ng said educational institutions are one of the country’s “biggest producers” of donated blood. She said the main reason for conducting blood donation drives in schools is to cultivate the habit of donating blood among youths, so as to prevent a lack of donors in future.

Zhuang agreed with Ng.

“Our goal is not just (for the donors to) donate (once), meet the target, and then that’s it,” he said. “It’s good that they become lifetime donors.”

Despite the fact that only a small percentage of students in NUS turned up for the blood donation drive, Zhuang said the event was a success as the collection target was met.

“We collected a total of 439 units in this drive, and I felt that it was a good amount,” he said. “We just have to think of new ways to attract people to this event.”

The NUS Red Cross Chapter organises two blood donation drives every year, one during each semester.