The Taiwan Blood Services Foundation issued an urgent appeal yesterday for people to donate blood as its reserve stock fell well below the safe level of seven days worth of blood in many parts of the country.
Taipei had the most critical shortage of blood, with stocks of type A blood down to less than a four-day supply, foundation data showed.
Type B reserves were down to 5.3 days of supply, type O reserves to 4.7 days and type AB reserves were down to 6.4 days.
Screen grab from the Taiwan Blood Services Foundation Web site
Liu Chun-hong (劉俊宏) of the Taipei Blood Center, which is run by the foundation, said that blood stocks in Taipei have dropped because fewer people donated blood on Friday when offices and schools were closed because of Typhoon Lekima.
The foundation’s blood reserves have been running low since late last month, but the problem became more urgent on Friday, when the group was not able to collect the average 1,500 bags of blood it usually receives on weekdays.
Tainan is also short of blood types A, B, O and AB, while Kaohsiung is short of blood types A, B and O, the foundation said.
Taichung is short of type A and O, while Hsinchu has enough of all blood types, except for type A, it said.
Venues at which people can donate blood can be found on the foundation’s Web site, www.tp.blood.org.tw.
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