Vice President Ma’ruf Amin during the Awarding Ceremony of Satyalancana Kebaktian Sosial Honors to Blood Donors with 100th Blood Donation, Monday (08/05). (Photo by: BPMI of Vice Presidential Secretariat)
The Government Monday (08/05) awarded the Satyalancana Kebaktian Sosial Honorary Medal to 1,591 voluntary blood donors who have recorded blood donation for 100th times in an awarding ceremony at Grand Sahid Jaya Hotel, Jakarta.
“Blood donors can be called humanitarian heroes because, voluntarily and altruistically, they help save lives and sustain the well-being of others,” Vice President Ma’ruf Amin said in his remarks during the ceremony.
He also said that blood is essential for human life, be it for maintaining health, saving lives, meeting medical needs, or providing assistance in the treatment of chronic diseases.
Therefore, blood donors are crucial when blood is unavailable or insufficient in hospitals and blood banks, he added.
“Blood donation benefits both the donors and recipients of the blood. A single drop of blood can give hope and motivation for people to recover and get back to their life,” he added.
The Vice President revealed that the current blood stock in the Blood Donor Units of the Indonesian Red Cross across Indonesia is only around 91,000 bags, far short of the ideal amount of 2.5 percent of the population, which would be approximately 7 million bags of blood per year.
“This shows that Indonesia still needs to continue increasing blood donations to meet the minimum blood stock requirement,” he noted.
To address this issue, the Vice President called for efforts to enhance public motivation to become regular voluntary blood donors, while expressing belief that the effort requires proactive roles from all ministries, agencies, and local governments.
“Together, we must provide the necessary facilities and infrastructure, improve blood quality, and develop a more intensive coaching system to motivate the public to donate blood regularly,” he emphasized.
According to a press release from the Indonesian Red Cross, the Satyalancana Kebaktian Sosial is the highest award given by the Government to blood donors for their dedication in donating blood for 100 times.
In the awarding ceremony, the Honorary Medal was given to 1,591 donors who donated blood 100 times during the 2019-2020 period, comprising 1,523 men and 68 women.
The donors came from 26 provinces, with East Java having the highest number of individuals donating blood 100 times exceeding 600 individuals.
Among the award recipients were Darmopawiro (76) from Central Java as the oldest donor and Yunus Effendi (43) from East Java as the youngest donor.
Gindo Panggabean from South Sumatra was recorded as the most frequent donor with 164 donations, while the youngest 100-time apheresis donor was Rachmat Hidayat (29) from Jakarta (161 donations), and the most frequent apheresis donor was I Putu Gede Suartika from Bali with 212 donations. (BPMI of Vice Presidential Secretariat) (AY/EP)
