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KZN blood supply running out
09/11/2006 19:45 - (SA)
Durban - KwaZulu-Natal hospitals have less than a day's supply of blood left, the South African National Blood Service (SANB) said on Thursday.
"This is the worst blood shortage that the province has experienced in history," said Gail-Anne Nothard, the SANB's marketing manager.
"We are currently moving blood stocks around the hospitals in KZN to prevent tragedy but we are not sure how long we can keep this up. Our concern is that we will not have sufficient blood available for patients over the weekend.
"We could postpone planned surgeries but our biggest fears are cases of emergencies. There is a big possibility that we could lose people because of a blood shortage," said Nothard.
Only one percent of the adult population donate blood.
"We are appealing to the public to come forward and donate blood to prevent a tragedy. We particularly need O type blood which can be used in an emergency," said Nothard.
She said that other provinces were trying to assist, but that stocks were low through out the country.
"They have been helping us on a daily basis but they can't keep helping us at the expense of their patients. We usually ensure that rural hospitals in the province have a five day supply of blood as we usually can't get to them on time, but we currently unable to do that. For city hospitals we are literally sending blood out every two hours as it comes in," said Nothard.
People who are in good health, lead a sexually safe lifestyle, who weigh more than 50kg and who are between the age of 16 and 65 can donate blood.
- SAPA
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