Prevent Easter blood shortages

Easter is a time for family and donating blood is a great way of helping to give someone more time with theirs, says Vanessa Raju, national communications manager of the South African National Blood Service (SANBS).
In times like these we have to appeal to donors to make their way to one of the closest blood drives or donor centres. Unfortunately when the holidays arrive, the demand does not decrease and about 3 000 units of blood is still needed by patients daily. For each day we are unable to make this target, the total units of blood that is available depletes.
Dottie Punn, SANBS public relations officer in Polokwane, says it only takes about 30 minutes of your time to make a huge difference to others’ needs. Road accident figures increase during the Easter holiday and this adds to the demand for blood.
Group O blood is often in greater demand than other blood groups, which is why the SANBS encourages Group O blood donors to donate regularly.
“This is because it can be given to any
patient in an emergency. One out of three people belong to Group O, so the chances of this blood group being used in a hospital are much more than for any other blood group.”
People can donate blood every 56 days. A regular donor is someone who has made three or more donations in a year.
The SANBS urged the community to donate blood to prevent a shortage before the Easter period.