Shanghai Honors Blood Donors, Expands Support and Services for Residents and Expats

Caption: Ashish Maskay, a surgeon at Shanghai United Family Hospital and head of Bloodline, a volunteer group under the Shanghai Blood Center, donates blood over the weekend as celebration of his birthday. He said it is his 59th donation for Shanghai.

Shanghai requires around 400,000 units of donated blood each year. In 2024, the city collected 447,000 units – including more than 100,000 units of platelets for the first time – the Shanghai Health Commission said as it honored outstanding blood donors and organizers over the weekend.

To further promote donation and enhance services, Shanghai Blood Donation, also known as Shanghai Xianxue 上海献血, has launched a miniprogram to streamline blood-use applications and strengthen online education.

Donors receive priority in blood use and are entitled to five times the amount they donated for free within five years, plus the same quantity of blood they donated after the five-year period. Within the first five years, close relatives – including spouses, parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings, as well as a spouse's parents – are also eligible to use the same amount for free.

The policy applies equally to expatriates, who are an important part of the city's donor community. Currently, the miniprogram accepts submissions only from holders of Chinese ID cards, while expatriates can complete applications at the Shanghai Blood Administration Office downtown or at district-level offices.

Expats can call the hotline at 5286-1970 for inquiries and applications, officials said.