Donors help put positive spin on Rh-negative blood

Support is growing for people from rare status groups. Yang Zekun reports.

One morning last month, 21-year-old Wang Jingwang traveled for two hours across Beijing to donate blood to a patient who was set to undergo stomach surgery.

Like Wang, the patient's blood group was Rh-negative. In China, the type is known as "panda blood" because it is found in just three in every 1,000 people and is therefore reputed to be as rare as the elusive animal.

Wang's journey was pointless, though, as a result of a miscalculation: he had made his last donation in January, and each contribution must be separated by six months.

"I was filled with remorse that my carelessness had complicated the issue, but fortunately some other volunteers were able to arrive later, so the treatment wasn't delayed," he said.

While the patient's family members expressed understanding and gratitude, Wang repeatedly apologized as he contacted other donors to give blood in his place.

Wang was informed of his Rh-negative status when he made his first donation in April last year. He was quite excited and told his mother the news. Before, he knew nothing about the rare blood group, but after he learned about it, he initially didn't worry about the scarcity of Rh-negative blood, even in the event he had an accident and required a lifesaving transfusion.

The donation in January was the second he had made.

"I donate blood because I want to help people in need. In some cases, my blood may save a life. I don't think it's a great thing to donate blood, which is what some people say, because anyone can help others. I just want to tell my children in the future that my rare blood helped a few people," he said.

Wang said he often sees "blood dealers" online and hanging around hospital blood banks. They usually offer good payments, but as Rh-negative blood is so rare the sums offered for it are far higher than average.

"I just donate blood without any compensation and have never thought about selling it for profit. That is illegal and also, I think, irresponsible. I have posted a message and my contact details on Douyin (a short-video app known as TikTok in the West), so the hospital can contact me if my blood type is needed," he said.

"In fact, it is also a form of insurance for myself. I am worried that if I needed blood in the future, and supplies were low, then I could use supplies from the blood station for free as long as I had donated more than 800 milliliters."

In China, people can transfuse blood for free if they have donated a certain amount.