On June 9, the General Office of the National Health Commission issued the “Notice on Enabling a National Unified Electronic Blood Donation Certificate”, announcing that a new national certificate for blood donations will be launched on June 14. Zhejiang Province had already implemented an electronic blood donation certificate in October 2019. After a successful donation, donors will receive an SMS with a link they can open to view the corresponding electronic certificate.
What is most crucial about the system is that it is integrated with the “charity hours” (公益时) that Alipay, China’s major mobile payments platform, uses to assess the value of charitable endeavours. Blood donors can convert the amount of blood they have donated into Alipay’s “charity hours”, which can also be exchanged for charity points on the “Volunteer Exchange” platform. Those who accumulate enough charity hours and charity points can enjoy various benefits; for instance, in Zhejiang Province people who donate more than 4000 ml of blood will be able to enjoy the “three exemptions” (free bus and subway rides, free entrance to parks, and free hospital consultation fees).
