Mon, Aug 30, 2021 page3

• Blood supply up, but donations needed

  COVID-19 DISRUPTION: While more people have begun donating again, hospitals have resumed previously suspended procedures, so demand for blood is likely to rise

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
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  Although the Taiwan Blood Services Foundation yesterday said the nation’s blood supply is gradually increasing, as the local COVID-19 situation has improved, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) encouraged people to donate blood, as surgeries that had been postponed are also resuming.

  After the nation’s biggest local COVID-19 outbreak began in May, the supply of blood across the nation dropped to about 30 to 40 percent of the usual reserve, down to only about 32,000 bags per week, foundation public relations director Li Lei (黎蕾) said.

  As the COVID-19 situation was steadily brought under control, more people were willing to donate blood, she said, adding that the supply increased by about 2,000 bags per week, so that blood banks now receive about 48,000 bags per week.

  

  Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, right, and others hold signs encouraging the public to donate blood at a news conference organized by the Taiwan Blood Services Foundation and Rotary International District 3521 in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: CNA

  An average of about 50,000 bags per week were available before the outbreak, she added.

  The blood bank in Taipei now has an average of about 7.7 days of blood supply available: 6.4 days of type A blood, 8.8 days of type B, 8.3 days of type O and 5.4 days of type AB, Li said.

  Rotary International would help promote blood donation at its 11 branches in Taiwan, and aims to collect about 4,000 bags of blood and 2,000 empty blood bags per branch, the foundation told a news conference in Taipei.

  Chen, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, also attended the news conference.

  He said the Taiwan Blood Service Foundation has been doing a great job in maintaining the quality and steady supply of blood in Taiwan.

  While fewer people were willing to donate blood after the middle of May, the blood supply has recently increased, he said.

  However, hospitals were asked to reduce capacity during a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert, which began on May 19, suspending medical procedures that were not urgent, so blood demand is expected to increase, Chen said.

  He encouraged people to continue donating blood, saying that people can make a reservation online on the foundation’s Web site.

  Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟), who won a gold medal with Lee Yang (李洋) in the badminton men’s doubles at the Tokyo Olympics, appeared in a prerecorded video clip for the foundation, encouraging people to donate blood.

  Wang said Chen had once told people to avoid going out during the COVID-19 outbreak, but now they can continue donating blood, so he also encourages everyone to donate at blood donation centers, which are comfortable and maintain social distancing.

  Meanwhile, the foundation said that while previously people who received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine were asked to wait at least 14 days before donating blood, people who have received an AstraZeneca, Medigen, Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are allowed to donate blood without waiting, if they are not feeling ill after receiving the vaccine.

  The rule change was decided on at an Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting on July 11, the foundation added.
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