By Evelyn Denich, dpa
BERLIN/Germany: As German blood supplies hit a critical low, the German Red Cross (DRK) appealed for donations.
Some 15,000 blood donations are needed nationwide every day, the DRK said.
“High competition from leisure activities is contributing to the fact that the required donations are not being reached in many places,” said Patric Nohe, federal spokesperson for the German Red Cross Blood Donor Services.
He said the nation’s blood donation services had to draw on their reserves, which are now “largely depleted.”
This is not a national emergency, he noted. “Anyone who is in need now and then goes to hospital will still get a blood reserve.”
The DRK covers some 75% of blood donations nationwide.
But, Noha said, there is a current shortage due to recent public holidays, the European Football Championship and the summer holidays, all of which mean fewer people are likely to donate blood.
The short shelf life of blood donations makes it hard to build up buffer reserves, he added, and blood that is being donated now is used immediately.
“Everything that comes in goes straight back out again,” he said.
The situation is particularly critical in the German states of North Rhine Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Lower Saxony “and in some cases, planned operations have had to be postponed,” he said.
“It is now crucial that we fully utilise all available appointments in the coming weeks in order to maintain the supply of vital blood products,” Nohe said.
He called for a communications effort to encourage people to give blood.
“The baby boomers currently form the foundation of blood donors in Germany,” Nohe said, noting that despite the removal of the upper age limit, many older people are no longer allowed to donate due to medication or illness.
Young people in particular are in demand, he said. “Just two blood donations a year could help.’”
“If nobody donated blood any more, it would quickly end in a major catastrophe,” he added.
