Blood shortage 'may cause cancellation of operations'

The National Blood Donations Centre has appealed for urgent blood donations, saying that a serious shortage of blood, particularly 'O' positive and negative, could force surgical operations to be cancelled tomorrow or on Thursday.

The centre also warned there might not be enough blood to meet emergencies.

"We need some 50-60 blood donations per day, but so far this week we have only had 15 to 25 per day," Angelo Degiorgio, manager of Blood Donation Services, told timesofmalta.com.

He said that as long as emergencies did not crop up, there was supply for the next two days.

Mr Degiorgio said there had been cases where operations had had to be postponed by a few hours, but in most cases the people responded generously to urgent blood donation appeals.

Blood donations are received at the centre opposite St Luke's Hospital in Guardamangia every day between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. including Sundays and holidays.

Donors need to produce their ID cards.