The holiday season and the complications following the recent fire at Ministry of Health have resulted in a temporary delay in organising blood drives, and ultimately, a significant drop in the number of units of blood available at the National Blood Transfusion Services (NBTS).

“We are way below our buffer stock of 170 units per week,” NBTS coordinator, Ms. Shameeza Mangal said yesterday.

To this end, there is an urgent call by NBTS and the Ministry of Health for voluntary donors to come in at the donor sites to give blood.

“The demand right now is much greater than our supply,” Mangal said.

She explained that the private sector is a major supporter of NBTS and with the holiday season here, there has been a reduction in the number of voluntary donors that are recruited.

So she is asking that eligible donors (over 17, over 110 pounds) should come forward and become walk-in-donors at blood banks across the country.

She affirmed that voluntary givers are also welcome at all six sites nationwide, including:

* NBTS headquarters in Georgetown;

* New Amsterdam Hospital;

* Suddie Hospital;

* Linden Hospital; and

* West Demerara Regional Hospital.

To exemplify the urgency of the need, the NBTS coordinator pointed out that over the weekend, on Saturday, a woman who gave birth at the Georgetown Public Hospital was in need of four units of O negative blood.

O negative is one of the least available blood types and the bank was placed in a position where they had to call up donors to meet this emergency need,” Mangal said.

Thankfully, she noted that the units were obtained.

She said, “We need voluntary donors and are doing what we can to try to meet the needs of healthcare institutions.”