Ngo Set To Offer Public Tests

Members of the China RH Union, an NGO that provides assistance to people with rhesus negative-type blood, share a common desire. They hope that more carriers will be found and make it as easy for them to receive transfusions as people with more-common blood types.

The problem is that most people don't know whether they are rhesus positive or negative, even though the suffix is added to every member of the ABO blood group. Tests are only conducted during voluntary premarital checkups and pregnancy examinations in big cities, or when people are donating blood or need a transfusion.

Wang Yong, head of the China RH Union, said the NGO has raised nearly 100,000 yuan ($14,500), and later this year it will start a campaign to encourage every citizen to take a test to identify their blood group.