The Taipei Blood Center is running short of blood types O and A, due to the recent high temperatures and frequent afternoon thunderstorms, as well as many people traveling abroad for a summer vacation and a rise in respiratory infection cases.
Taipei Blood Center planning division director-general Liu Chun-hung (劉俊宏) said yesterday that blood reserves are running low across the nation.
Taiwan Blood Services Foundation data showed that as of 7:45am on Friday, type AB was the only blood type at the normal level of supply in Taipei, while type B was low, and types O and A were critically low.
Photo: Screen grab from the Taiwan Blood Services Foundation Web site
A supply of more than seven days is considered normal, four to seven days is considered low, while less than four days is considered critically low.
The supply of all four types of blood in Taichung were low, and types A, B and O were also low in Kaohsiung, while only blood type AB was low, while blood types B, A and O were normal in Hsinchu, the data showed.
Liu said the shortage of blood types O and A has been serious recently, while the blood reserves of other types are not high either.
The Taipei Blood Center on average receives donations of about 15,000 bags of blood per week, but that number dropped to 12,000 in the past week.
Liu said he has heard that some hospitals have postponed surgeries or tightened their blood transfusion rules.
Regarding the reasons for the recent blood shortage, Liu said the hot weather and frequent thunderstorms have led to many people preferring to stay indoors, while many other people are traveling abroad for their summer vacation.
Moreover, there are “many viruses spreading at the same time,” such as adenovirus and COVID-19, so when the center called some frequent blood donors to ask them to donate, about 30 percent said they had cold-like symptoms and could not donate blood, he said.
Liu said that taking certain medicines also affects blood quality, so donors might need to wait one to two weeks after they finish their medication before donating blood again, and as COVID-19 cases are expected to peak in the middle of this month, the situation is likely to continue until after the peak period.
He urged people who are healthy and not experiencing any illnesses to donate blood to help people in need, and those who are feeling ill should rest and come out to donate after they have fully recovered.
Regarding the effect of the blood shortage on surgeries, Taiwan Community Hospital Association chairperson Chu Yi-hong (朱益宏) said he has not heard about it from association members, and that hospitals should be performing surgeries as normal.
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital said it had not implemented tighter blood transfusion rules, and Taipei Veterans General Hospital superintendent Chen Wei-ming (陳威明) said the blood supply is normal and surgeries are proceeding as scheduled.
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