You can save lives with your donation
DRK raises the alarm: supply of blood products critical
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HESSE – The blood is scarce. For weeks, blood donation services and hospitals have been reporting that blood supplies are becoming scarcer. A few days ago, the blood donation service of the German Red Cross (DRK) again warned of a shortage of donor blood.
Now the Hessian Minister for Social Affairs and Integration, Kai Klose, is also calling for blood donations: “The situation is serious. You can save lives with your donation. I would ask everyone who can and may donate blood to help ensure that the supply of blood preserves continues to be guaranteed .”
According to the DRK, one observes a sharp decline in donors every year, especially in the summer months. The pandemic has made the situation even worse. In addition to regular blood donors who are in quarantine or isolation, the proportion of the population willing to donate is also falling. In addition, donors are prevented due to relaxed travel rules and increased leisure activities, especially in the hot season. The blood donation services also lack staff given the still high number of cases.
Many areas of use
In Germany, around 15,000 blood donations are transfused to sick and injured people every day. The blood is not only needed for patients who have had an accident, but also for many diseases such as cancer or autoimmune diseases and blood clotting disorders. Donor blood is also needed for major operations. The supply of blood plasma is also strained. Plasma, like red blood cells, can be transfused to sick people. It is also used to make medicines. Such drugs are essential for the survival of patients in many diseases.
In principle, every healthy person over the age of 18 can donate blood. Donations can be made by active donors up to their 76th birthday. If you donate blood for the first time, you must not be older than 68 years. In Hesse you can donate blood and plasma at all university clinics. There are also individual private providers in larger cities. The German Red Cross is the most important provider of blood donations in the region. With the support of the DRK stand-by, blood donations are also possible in rural areas close to where you live.
According to the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, donations can also be made during the corona pandemic without any problems, provided a few rules are observed. You should not have had any contact with a corona infected person before the donation and be free of typical symptoms. After recovering from an infection, you should wait four weeks from the time of full recovery before donating blood. (away)
More information at: https://www.drk-blutspende.de/.
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