With the government recognising the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) as an essential service, blood collections, laboratory services and related activities continue to function under Level 4 restrictions, with strict Covid-19 safety protocols in place. Unfortunately, following the Level 4 announcement, most blood drives are recording very poor support from the public, while blood is needed every single day. Enough blood tomorrow won’t help anyone today. It takes just 30 minutes to save someone’s life through blood donation.
Remember that you can donate blood immediately after being vaccinated against Covid-19, provided you don’t have any symptoms of infection, and that the usual blood donation screening tests are in order. The SANBS offers an appointment system, allowing donors to schedule donation appointments in advance.
This is to avoid waiting times, giving preference to donors with appointments, even though walk-in donors are still more than welcome. Commitment Campaign On World Blood Donor Day, 14 June, the SANBS launched a new Commitment Campaign, where donors receive a special gift for every second donation. This is not only for donors who donated blood four times in the same calendar year, as was the case before. Any person who donates a unit of blood from now until 14 August 2021, will receive the launch gift. Thereafter, donors will continue to receive a gift at every alternate donation. Haemoglobin cut-off levels
Another major change that has been introduced, is the new policy on haemoglobin cut-off levels. The cut-off levels have been reduced from 12.5 to 12.0 for females, and increased to 13.0 for male donors. An additional laboratory ferritin test will be done on all donors on every fourth donation. Ferritin tests assess the iron stores in the blood, rather than the haemoglobin that only looks at how much iron is already in circulation. With these changes, SANBS will be able to provide better donor care, resulting in many more happy years of donating blood. For more information, contact the SANBS call centre on 0800 11 9031 or visit their website on www.sanbs.org.za.
On Tuesday, 13 July 2021, you can donate blood at the Reformed Church Hall in Parys, on the corner of Loop and Paulsen streets from 12:00–18:00. The target is 100 units of blood.
Every blood donor will receive a gift of appreciation to keep this winter. 
