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Five patients consumed blood from 500 donors. Come donate, doctors ask

The transfusion department of the General University Hospital in Prague usually holds a blood supply for two, three or more weeks. They currently have supplies for two to three days.

“We certainly haven’t had such low blood supplies for the last seven years,” says Daniela Dušková, head of the transfusion department at the General University Hospital in Prague, describing the situation as “very serious”, although patients may not yet worry about getting a transfusion or operations were delayed due to lack of blood.

“It is on the edge. We try to contact our donors, “reports Pavel Žára, head of communication at the Brno University Hospital, adding that they also supply blood to other hospitals.

And the same problem is confirmed by other large hospitals. The head of the blood bank at St. Anne’s University Hospital, Jarmila Celerová, described this week that even “no one remembers” such a critical situation. The same problem is solved by the University Hospital in Motol.

“Usually, the individual transfusion departments in the country are accommodating, and when something is missing, we help each other, but this year it is not possible to practice. Everyone is happy for what they have for their patients, “says Daniela Dušková, head of the General University Hospital.

According to the hospitals contacted, the reason for such a severe blood shortage in the Czech Republic is the concurrence of the annual summer decline with new problems due to coronavirus.

Another impact of the pandemic

From the point of view of blood banks, summer presents a number of problem factors: donors go on holiday and do not find much time to collect blood, ticks are active, the sucking of which means a monthly postponement of donation, and at the same time accidents are more frequent.

The University Hospital in Brno specifically describes on its website what blood supply the accident may require.

“At the beginning of the summer, it was necessary to compensate for the massive blood loss to two drivers with multiple injuries after a serious car accident. In a short time, they consumed 83 transfusion units of red blood cells, 8 units of plasma and 21 units of platelets, “the hospital calculates in an educational article.

In it, she also gave examples of three other patients and quantified that more than 500 donors were involved in providing treatment for these five people.

How much blood is needed for treatment

An oncologically ill two-year-old girl she has consumed 70 platelet units and 12 red blood cell units in the last two months as a result of her illness.

Pro extensive burns the young patient had to receive 105 transfusion units of red blood cells, 10 units of plasma and five units of platelets during treatment.

Another patient this summer is rare blood disease had to receive a record 531 doses of blood derivative produced from donor plasma.

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To all this has been added the coronavirus pandemic this year. And it affected people on several levels.

“For example, donors went to high-risk areas, for example only to buy to the place where the virus is the focus, and then postpone the donation of blood,” says Pavel Žára from the Brno University Hospital.

“Even employers do not recommend their employees who work within the home office to go away from home, away from the workplace. Or I found out by asking that people are afraid that they will get covid in a medical facility, “says Daniela Dušková from the General University Hospital in Prague. According to her, however, people do not have to worry about the virus in the transfusion departments. “We have everything treated so that the risk approaches zero,” adds Dušková.

Hospitals are catching up with delayed operations

Another factor is that hospitals are catching up with surgeries and interventions over the summer, which they had to postpone during the spring emergency. That, too, requires extra blood. Therefore, blood banks are currently contacting donors in registries and using all means to alert potential donors to a crisis situation.

And St. Anne’s University Hospital, which has a relatively fresh transfusion department, according to spokeswoman Dana Lipovska, is trying to combat blood shortages by extending the times when donors can run out. It also adds Tuesday opening hours to Mondays and Wednesdays.

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