Up to 1,000 blood units are needed in Austria every day. That’s about every one and a half minutes, the local Red Cross (WCC) calculated on Monday, one day before World Blood Donor Day. Blood can be requested from hospitals around the clock. Around 70 percent of these are reserved for the long term, for example for operations, and 30 percent are administered acutely. The stock levels are still “worryingly low” because of Corona, it said.
The Covid-19 pandemic has prevented many people from donating blood due to illness. There are also planned vacations and leisure activities. In addition, the hospitals have an increased need for blood supplies, since postponed, non-time-critical operations are being made up for. “We therefore depend on the support of each and every individual and call on people of all blood types to come and donate blood and help us bring our stockpiles to safe levels before the summer,” WCC President Gerald Creator said in the broadcast .
“In 2021, a total of 222,295 people in Austria donated blood to the Red Cross, which is 3.56 percent of the population of age to donate. However, the preserved blood can be kept for a maximum of 42 days, which requires the canned goods to be supplied continuously,” explained Ursula Kreil, Head of collection at the blood donation center for Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. Blood is administered, for example, after accidents, childbirth, operations or in the treatment of serious illnesses.
In 1930, the Austrian scientist Karl Landsteiner received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery of the blood groups A, B, 0 and AB. His research findings have made modern transfusion medicine possible. Since 2004, International World Blood Donor Day has been celebrated annually on June 14, Landsteiner’s birthday. On this day, people around the world should be reminded of the importance of donating blood.
( SERVICE – Further information on blood donation from the Red Cross: www.gibdeinbestes.at )
–
