“Make a donation, the emergency is vital”, concedes the French blood establishment (EFS). Stocks are at a historically low level: in the reserves, 30,000 blood bags are missing. Blame it on the Covid-19 epidemic, the closure of collection sites, the lack of staff and the contaminations that prevent donations. A shortage that could endanger patients in the short term, since these blood products are essential for surgical procedures or in the event of a serious accident. Mobilizing donors is therefore a priority for the French blood establishment in Bordeaux.
“Hello, I would like to contact you to find out if you would be available to donate blood, we currently have very important needs”, launches an employee of the French blood establishment in Bordeaux on the phone.
Phone calls to mobilize regular donors but also all those who have never passed through the doors of the Maison du don of the French blood establishment in Bordeaux. “We are close to 70,000 pockets when we should be at 100,000, we have even exceeded what we call the alert threshold”, explains doctor Fabien Lassurguere of EFS Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
10,000 bags needed per day
“If we continue like this, we could come to situations where we might have to think about postponing interventions, we don’t want to come to that,” he says. “So we really need all known donors, but also people who have never donated blood.”
An act that lasts about ten minutes, specifies Fabien Lassurguere. “It’s ten minutes to bring a product that we don’t know how to replace, we don’t know how to manufacture it, every day, it’s 10,000 bags that are needed in France to meet the needs of patients”, comments-t-t -he.
Responding to this urgent call, many young people came to give blood for the first time in Bordeaux. “It’s an awareness,” says Imane, 34. If it is advisable to make an appointment, people ready to donate blood can also come spontaneously to the collection points.
To donate your blood, two conditions: be between 18 and 70 years old and weigh more than 50 kilos. If you have been infected with Covid-19, you must wait two weeks after your first positive test. The vaccination pass, on the other hand, is not required at the collection points.
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