Blood donations are always needed but seldom a high priority for citizens, until they are offered very tempting gifts.
Unusually long lines of people began gathering to donate blood at Taichung Blood Center as early as 6 a.m. on Friday. The blood center has alerted the public that fewer than six days of type O stock remain in their banks where normally a minimum of seven days of safety stock is maintained. However, only after gifts of solid gold Mazu figures were offered, did interest in donating blood peak.
The Mazu Temple cooperated with a local jeweler and announced that a limited 100 0.03-gram gold statuettes worth more than NT$1,000 (over US$30) were available to people who donated 500cc of type O blood.
One man traveled from Hsinchu when he heard about the event, arriving at 6 a.m. to stand in line. Another woman and her friend arrived at about 7 a.m. snagging Mazu numbers 76 and 77.
Jeweler Hsia Chin-ling (夏金伶) explains that because the market price of gold is very high now, at NT$9,420 (US$289.26) per gram according to the international market, the Mazu figure gift is a valuable product.
Many people have the habit of giving blood regularly. However, type O blood is relatively scarce and blood banks expect it to continue to be in short supply regardless of the trend to B+ about donating.