Due to the easing, the upcoming travel time and the warmer temperatures, the Red Cross fears a decline in vital blood donations. At the same time, the demand remains high, and many hospitals are currently catching up on operations. A blood supply is required every 90 seconds in Austria. However, these can be kept for a maximum of 42 days, which requires long-term planning. Only 3.4 percent of the eligible population in Austria donate blood.
“Please donate blood so that we can continue to care for patients well in the summer”, says Austria’s Red Cross President Gerald Schöpfer.
Whether after an accident or giving birth due to a serious illness – almost 1,000 blood products are used in Austria every day. Blood is an important emergency medicine and cannot be produced artificially. In the previous year, around 212,000 people donated blood to the Red Cross, a total of around 333,000 blood products were withdrawn.
People between the ages of 18 and 70 who meet certain health and statutory criteria are allowed to donate blood. “Right now it is important to know: Even those who have recovered and who have been vaccinated can donate blood after a short waiting period,” says Dr. Ursula Kreil, head of acceptance in the blood donation center for Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. After a corona vaccination you have to pause two days before a blood donation, if vaccination reactions such as fever occur a week.
If you have suffered from Covid, you should generally take a four-week break from donating blood.
All information about blood donation can be found at:
www.blut.at
www.gibdeinbestes.at
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