Vietnam Has First Blood Bank Getting EU-GMP Certification

The Ho Chi Minh City-based Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion’s blood bank has become the first one in Vietnam to receive a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification from the European Union (EU-GMP), state media reported. After the blood bank had got the certification, Vietnam can sell blood plasma to European countries and then buy cheap treatment products for poor Vietnamese patients. The certification will also facilitate the building of an EU-GMP-certified blood bank with a capacity of one million blood units a year, said Director of the municipal Health Department Phu Chi Dung. The blood bank at the HCMC-based institute is the leading facility in the country in blood supply. In 2018, it collected over 260,000 units of blood from 230,000 donors and made more than 700,000 blood products. (VTV, Tuoi Tre, VTV, VnExpress, SGGPnews, congan, plo, VNReview, phunuonline, Nguoi Lao Dong, Thanh Nien)