Situation is critical with regards to blood in KZN

The woman giving birth. The cancer patient. The man undergoing open heart surgery. The road accident victim.
All of these people – and those who love them – rely on one thing: blood donations. Their lives and their futures are at stake. But South Africa’s blood stock is currently desperately low and all of them are at risk.

“Our national blood supply is currently at just 2.1 days’ Group O stock, amounting to just over 1958 units of O blood available around the country,” says Sifiso Khoza, regional marketing manager for the South African National Blood Service (SANBS).

“The situation, simply, is critical. We need South Africans – active donors, lapsed donors and potential donors – to stand together right now to bolster the national blood stock.”

Khoza points out that incidents of trauma make up only a fraction of the demand for blood.

Also read: Your blood saves lives, so please donate

“So many people in life-threatening situations require blood. It’s what saves that haemorrhaging mother’s life so that she can raise and love the baby she has just brought into the world. It’s what saves someone suffering complications during major surgery. It’s what helps that cancer patient endure and survive treatment. And that’s the point: it’s not just blood. It’s saving people’s lives through a simple, easy donation,” says Khoza.

The SANBS is therefore making an earnest appeal for South Africans to step forward and donate blood. Today.

“More than that, however, the SANBS appeals to South Africans to become regular donors. By donating blood only four times a year, we can easily avoid situations such as the one in which we find ourselves,” explains Khoza.

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