Blood Bank is still in dire need despite positive donor response

An urgent appeal for donations by the Blood Bank was heeded yesterday by both frequent and first-timer donors but there is still a long way to go to bring blood stocks up to an acceptable level.

A recent spate of serious traffic accidents has resulted in severely depleted stocks of O positive blood.

Yesterday morning, Blood Bank spokesman Anthony Micallef declared a “state of emergency”, adding that he did not use these words lightly. If the situation did not change, he said, non-urgent operations would have to be put off.

In the evening he described the response to that appeal as having been very good. About 100 bags of blood had been collected, enough for today’s scheduled operations to take place.

“But this does not mean the state of emergency is over,” he added. “This morning there were only 20 bags of O positive blood left. Ideally we would like to accumulate 300 bags of blood in the next four days.”

Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy were also at risk of being affected by the shortage, since blood transfusions are part of the therapy.

Although O positive was the most badly needed blood type yesterday, others were also required. There were only 80 to 90 bags of A+ blood left, for example. “In a worst case scenario O negative can be used in all cases. For example if you are involved in a traffic accident and it cannot be established what blood type you are, then O negative will be used. However, we would rather keep stocks of O negative in reserve.”

The only small consolation was that the Blood Bank had already collected 1000 more bags than the whole of last year. “People are coming to donate but there still isn’t enough blood to meet demand,” he said.

Mr Micallef cited an increase in the number of traffic accidents as a possible cause for the shortage.

Two days ago three people were seriously injured on Tal-Barrani Road while a Serbian man died after apparently losing control of his motorcycle in Birżebbuġa. A man was also seriously injured early yesterday morning in an accident in Baħar iċ-Ċaghaq.

“We are appealing to all people to donate blood urgently. Our appeal goes partcularly to the relatives of people who will be operated upon tomorrow,” Mr Micallef said.

Donors are urged to call at the Blood Bank in Pietà, near St Luke’s Hospital, by 6 p.m. They must produce their ID card.