Rare blood donated to save American friend ( 2003-10-23 23:46) (Xinhua)
me of 1,200 milliliters of rhesus (RH) A-negative blood has been donated by
three Chinese citizens and was sent to Beijing to save an American scientist on
Thursday.
Erwin Engst, who has been working in China since 1946, suffers from an
alimentary canal haemorrhage and urgently needed blood. However, his RH negative
blood type is quite rare in China with the ratio standing at four per 10,000.
In 2001, Engst received treatment for lung infection at the Beijing Union
Medical College Hospital. Later his alimentary canal began to hemorrhage badly,
according to the hospital.
Since then, the Beijing Red Cross Blood Center had been searching for this
type throughout the country but got far less than he needed.
Only 600 milliliters of RH negative was kept in the blood center when the
patient was getting worse on Oct. 20. The center immediately called Shenzhen for
help.
Eleven donors of this rare blood type were on the roster but only three of
them were reached. At 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, each donated 400 milliliters of blood
to the American friend.
A doctor in Beijing Red Cross Blood Center named Yang Yin carried the blood
back to Beijing by Thursday morning.
Engst and his wife, Joan Hinton, came from the United States and have both
been working in China before New China was born. Since then, they have made
great contributions to the development of the milk industry and have served as
consultants of the Ministry of Machine-building Industry.
