Appeal to keep blood stock at 10-day cover levels

The South African National Blood Service (Sanbs) has enough stock for 10 days into the new year, the service said on January 6.

Spokesperson Thandi Mosuphye told Rekord this is thanks to donors willingly playing their part to keep donating during the festive season, as well as an awareness campaign launched before the festive season to keep stock levels high for all the extra requests for blood during the festive season.

Sanbs launched its annual summer campaign in November and its special blood drive on Red Saturday on the 30th of that month.

“We however need to maintain these stock levels and appeal to donors to help us keep the levels to 10 days’ cover,” said Mosuphye.

She also ascribed this year’s levels to good preplanning. Sanbs is already at planning phase for an Easter blood donation campaign.

Last year, an anchor of TV programme Die GROOT Ontbyt took such an interest during an interview she had with a representative of the service that she rallied up the rest of the team on the show, as well as staff and families of Groot FM 90.5, to arrange a blood drive before the festive season.

TV-anchor Jennifer Myburgh said donating blood is and remains one of the easiest ways to save someone else’s life.

“If I do introspection I must admit I do not do this often enough. Everybody must have the option of having blood available to save their life. This is a way to enable all of us in the team to make this option possible to others,” she explained.

Before she spoke to blood donation experts she was unaware that less than 1% of South Africans are active blood donors and that a unit of blood is good only for 42 days.

“For this reason, it is important for blood donors to donate regularly. Donors can give blood as often as every eight weeks. I now know every unit of blood can save a minimum of three lives, as blood is separated into three big needs: red blood cells, plasma and platelets,” said Myburgh.

Co-presenter Pierre Breytenbach said “nobody is an island”.

At one stage his father needed blood when he was in hospital.

“You never know when you will be needing it yourself or when a family member might need blood. It is also so easy to be able to do this with colleagues and make it a team effort,” said Breytenbach.

Oscar Ramutsheli, a donor educator at the Sanbs, said that in Pretoria the service has 13 teams going out every day on blood drives over and above the services available at the nine blood donor centres.

“That means we have 22 teams ready for possible donors,” said Ramutsheli.

He said they aim to collect 3 000 units of blood countrywide per day to ensure a safe and sufficient blood supply in the health care system.

Blood is needed by patients undergoing surgical operations, patients with cancer or leukaemia, children with severe anaemia, accident victims and to treat haemorrhage as a complication of pregnancy.

“If you are between the ages of 16 and 75, weigh more than 50kg and lead a sexually safe lifestyle, you can come to a clinic and register as a blood donor,” said Ramutsheli.

He said that by law, a donor may only donate every 56 days.

“This is to ensure you have had enough time to regenerate the red cells from your last donation. One is allowed to donate only about 450ml,” said Ramutsheli.

He said the summer campaign will focus on raising awareness about the importance of regular blood donations, encouraging first-time donors to make donating a lifelong practice, and educating the public on the reciprocal benefits of giving blood.

Blood donation 101: Facts to remember
You cannot give blood if:

– you got a tattoo (this includes micro-blading or permanent make-up) or piercing in the last three months before donation
– had major surgery done in the last three months before donation
– you travelled outside South Africa in the last three months before donation
– you had dental cleaning or a filling in 72 hours before donation
– you are pregnant or breastfeeding
– you have presented with flu-like symptoms in the last seven days before donation
– you have visited a malaria-area in last four weeks before donation.

– Visit www.sanbs.org.za or contact 0800 119 031 to find out where you can donate blood. Follow SANBS on X (@theSANBS), Facebook (@SANBS) Instagram (@thesanbs) and TikTok (@thesanbs).

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