Officials from Shanghai Blood Administration Office said
yesterday the city will face a blood shortage within weeks, as
clinical demand is expected to surge by 20 to 30 percent.
Part of the cause of the shortage was the failure of enterprises
and universities to fulfil donation quotas.
The current daily storage is about 1,200 liters, while type A
and AB levels were lower than ideal amount, officials said.
"About 3,000 people donated 647 liters of blood during the
Spring Festival holiday ending on Tuesday, 8.5 percent higher than
the previous year," said Song Qi, a blood administration official.
"The voluntary donation is in line with the usage during the
holiday.
"But there should be a peak of blood demand after the weeklong
holiday due to increased out-of-town patients and a number of local
surgeries specially scheduled after the festival."
Authorities were encouraging voluntary donation at streetside
blood collecting vehicles and centers, saying these donation played
an important role in blood collection.
"The cold weather can influence our collection, whereas it is
also the cause resulting in rising number of patients with
cardiovascular diseases and other diseases requiring treatment and
blood transfusion," Song said.
In addition to encouraging more blood donations, authorities
were eager to receive more donations of blood platelet, which the
city has to import from other provinces every year to meet local
demand.
"Though we have improved blood supply in many aspects, there is
always a shortage of blood platelet," Song said. "The city should
use some 6,000 liters of platelet every year, while we only
collected two thirds of that amount," Song said.
(Shanghai Daily February 14, 2008)