Blood Donation on Ashura

Iranians across the country donated nearly 40,000 units of blood on Tasua and Ashura (October 11, 12) during the mourning month of Muharram which commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (AS), the third Shi’a imam. “The amount of donated blood on these days is triple that on a normal day,” said Health Minister Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi, during a visit to donors at a medical center in Tehran on Wednesday, IRNA reported. A large number of people had registered under the ‘votive blood donation’ scheme launched by the Iran Blood Transfusion Organization.