Asst. Prof. Neslihan Mandacı Şanlı, a faculty member at the Department of Hematology and in charge of the Blood Center of the Faculty of Medicine, made a statement on the occasion of June 14 World Blood Donor Day.

She said: “Hundreds of people around the world die every year due to blood loss as a result of accidents or some diseases. Blood donation is the only way to prevent this loss. Blood is essential for life; therefore, blood donation is crucial. Blood is an urgent and a constant need. June 14 is celebrated as the World Blood Donor Day every year. It is the birthday of Nobel prize-winning scientist Karl Landsteiner, who discovered the ABO blood group system. The aim of this day is to celebrate the volunteers donating blood regularly and draw attention to the blood donation. As the Blood Center of Erciyes University Hospitals, we provide blood and blood products services in a wide area in the unit. It is one of the exceptional centers with volunteers donating blood regularly. I am in charge of the center and work in the field of adult hematology and stem cell transplantation. We treat a patient population needing constant blood transfusion such as patients with blood diseases, bone marrow transplant patients, patients with thalassemia, and patients with leukemia. For this reason, we witness firsthand how vital blood and blood products are.”

She continued as follows: “We aim to inform our people by organizing seminars and events to raise awareness, correct misconceptions, and enable the people to adopt voluntary blood donation. Blood donation is a social responsibility and increases solidarity. One should not forget that blood donation is based on volunteerism, and that the person himself or his loved ones may need blood transfusion one day. Thus, we should act with this awareness.”