Von B.Z./dpa
For World Blood Donor Day this Tuesday, donation services, health insurance companies and doctors urgently called for donations.
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According to the DRK, the current supply situation in the federal states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein is currently threatening for some blood groups. Blood groups 0+, 0-, A+ and A- are particularly scarce.
In the Alexa shopping center in Berlin-Mitte, the DRK blood donation service north-east opened a new blood donation center on Tuesday, so that there is a continuous donation option at a central location. The first donors have already given blood there. On weekdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., people can donate there by appointment, as a spokeswoman said.
The German Society for Transfusion Medicine and Immunohaematology pointed out that too few people are currently donating blood due to holidays, vacations and the elimination of corona-related restrictions on travel and leisure activities. “The resulting shortage of blood products is particularly critical right now, as many operations that were previously postponed due to the pandemic are being made up in the clinics,” said Hubert Schrezenmeier, chairman.
“In Germany, 15,000 blood donations are needed every day to ensure medical care. But since only three percent of the population regularly donates blood, there can always be a gap between need and availability,” said the private blood donation service Haema AG. Statistically, every second German relies on a blood donation or medication made from blood at least once in their life.
An employee takes blood from a donor (archive photo) Photo: dpa
The Association of Substitute Health Insurance Funds in Berlin and Brandenburg also called for blood donations and pointed out who can donate: “Potential blood donors must be at least 18 years old and weigh at least 50 kilograms. Women can donate blood four times in twelve months, men six times in a year,” said one speaker.
Private and state-communal blood donation services offer blood donors financial compensation. The German Red Cross does not have this. In the new center in Alexa, donors receive a meal voucher, for example.
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