Beijing is to recruit 100,000 volunteer blood donors for the Olympic Games, the municipal blood donation office said on Friday.

Office director Liu Jiang said the recruitment program started in April and would end by the end of July. The office aimed to recruit a half of the target by the end of next month.

The host city also plans to establish a bank of rare blood types with 1,000 persons and a 10,000-people blood platelet bank for the Games.

The 100,000 volunteer donors, equivalent to 0.65 percent of the population of permanent residents, come from all the 18 districts and counties of the city, with Chaoyang District to contribute 18,000 donors, exceeding any other district and county.

(Xinhua News Agency April 26, 2008)