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Man dies while donating blood for the 45th time

By ANN TAN
anntan@thestar.com.my

GEORGE TOWN: A plumber’s good intention turned tragic when he died shortly after developing a seizure while donating blood for the 45th time. Ho Chuan Poh (pic), 55, experienced the seizure at the Hui Yin Seh Association Metta blood donation campaign in Air Itam yesterday. However, Ho has not died in vain. He is acknowledged by the association leaders for his selfless act throughout the years and the association will bear the funeral costs as well as provide insurance payment to his family.



In the 11.30am incident, doctors on standby immediately attended to Ho when he started having the seizure. He was sent to the Penang Hospital and was pronounced dead at 12.33pm. Penang Hospital blood bank pathologist Dr Soo Peng Yen said Ho’s case had been classified as sudden death.

“Our medical personnel will always run tests on the donor’s haemoglobin level, blood pressure, pulse rate and they even conduct a short oral question-and-answer session to see if the donor is fit to donate blood. “Should they fail any of these tests, we will not allow them to donate blood.

In Ho’s case, he passed the tests,” said Dr Soo at a press conference. Ho’s youngest son, Gin Hong, 18, said his father was in good health despite being an occasional drinker and smoker. “He also used to sleep early, particularly when he had to go for blood donation the next day,” he said. Ho had received bronze, silver and gold medal awards respectively in 2002, 2004 and 2008 from the association for his good record in blood donation.

Association president Datuk Chuang Keng Kung said they were saddened by the incident as Ho was a veteran blood donor since 1997. “We have been organising 173 such campaigns since 1996 and have collected more than 35,000 packets of blood. But we have never come across such an incident,” he said.