Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) Vice President Annette Lu urged local people Friday to donate blood to help relieve an acute domestic blood shortage.
Lu made the call while visiting the Taipei Blood Center. Lu herself couldn't donate blood as she had made a visit to Indonesia, a malaria-stricken country, last August.
Under the current law, those who have been to a malaria-stricken country or area are banned from donating blood within a year after returning to Taiwan.
This is the second year in a row that Lu has been unable to donate blood as she visited the African nation of Gambia, another malaria-stricken country, in 2001.
Lu said she plans to cut the number of her overseas trips in the future in order to qualify to donate blood in Taiwan.
According to tallies compiled by the Chinese Blood Services Foundation, 7.2 percent of Taiwan people aged between 17 and 65 have made blood donations, higher than the 5.7 percent registered among adult Americans and the approximately 4 percent of Japanese. Locally-donated blood has also received international quality certification.
Praising blood donation as a noble deed, Lu said she looks forward to seeing more citizens donate blood.