BEIJING -- The number of voluntary blood donations in China reached nearly 5.97 million in the first five months this year, up 3.6 percent year on year, according to the National Health Commission.

The amount of blood donated hit 2,065 tonnes during the same period, marking a 5.2-percent increase.

The number of voluntary blood donations has seen 20 years of consecutive growth, from 328,000 in 1998 to 14.59 million in 2017, figures from the commission showed.

Thanks to a system for more rational clinical use of blood, China has managed to reduce the amount of blood used for each patient and clinical operation by 20 percent and 30 percent on average, respectively, in the past five years, according to the commission.