07 October, 2007

Blood donation spam


I keep getting emails that say some one needs blood urgently, please donate and call him on number so&so.
While they are a beautiful gesture of kindness, they are also a sign of sheer stupidity and it makes me mad.
Why? Consider today's flavour of the blood spam:

There is a 5 year old boy admitted in salmania ward 204.room 3.

He has cancer & need blood donation B+ .

Please forward this to all you know ..

Father name &mobile 39xxxxxx

Khalid A H..


What is wrong with this? let me tell you:

O+ blood is the most common blood type in Bahrain. If someone has B+ and needs blood, they can give him O+, do not worry. If they are in shortage, they SMS their donor data base (I am one of them) so if they need blood I would know before you do.

Second of all, You do not know when this happened! It could be last year for all you know.

And as far as the phone number, it could be a prank and now this poor fellow cannot use his mobile phone because of all the "charity" phone calls he is getting.

I know Bahraini's are kind but, come on!

There is a table on the Ministry of Health's website showing blood type compatibilities. It also has a field where donors enter in their CPR number to show thier record. This of course does not work (nor is secure should it work).
I do have to commend the guys at Salmaniya hospital's Blood Bank though, they are providing an enormous benefit that no one thinks of. It is very easy to donate, nay it is beneficial too. Look here at what Wikipedia says.
So moral of post is:
1- Please give a call to Salmaniya's blood bank, it takes half an hour or so to donate. (How about organizing a bloggers donation day?? Anyone interested)
and 2- of course, stop forwarding junk without thinking. I hate it.

6 comments:

Ammaro said...

anything forwarded to me gets the infamous delete button. i cant stand forward emails.

Missy said...

my blood type is B- . anyone interested? :P


have a look at that table. there's no B- !!! what if i was the patient? they'll let me die?! :|


i'd like to donate, actually i've been thinking of it a lot lately. but i don't know how and im too lazy to call the blood bank :p


im 19 and my hemoglobin was 11 last year. yenfa3? :p

Redbelt said...

I applaud your initiative Missy. I am no doctor, so I guess if we DO have a bloggers blood donation day, simply show up and they'll give you a quick test in 5 minutes.

I give blood anyway, but if I can make this into an event, I'd love to.

If anyone is interested in a bloggers blood donation rally, please comment here so we can coordinate, or email redbelt at zain.com.bh

I sure hope some good comes out of that junk email!

Thanks for your support.

Islander said...

count me in!
I donate blood over here whenever I can, but I'd love it better if I donated in Bahrain :D
Let me know if the blood drive does come through, I'll definatly be there if I wasin Bahrain

Unknown said...

Dear all,
Mahmood A.Rahman Al Bluchi 1344 needs urgent blood for his daughte. Kindly call on the below number If you would like to donate.
Name: Manal Mahmood A.Rahman
Blood type: B+
Contact number: 39158829

Unknown said...

Dear all,
Mahmood A.Rahman Al Bluchi 1344 needs urgent blood for his daughte. Kindly call on the below number If you would like to donate.
Name: Manal Mahmood A.Rahman
Blood type: B+
Contact number: 39158829