David McIntosh: The Global Blood Shortage Crisis and the Urgent Need for National Action
David McIntosh, Founder and Chair of United Plasma Action, shared Irish Blood Transfusion Service’s post on LinkedIn, adding:
”The World is greatly indebted to the Irish Blood Transfusion Service for another splendid post of huge global relevance!!
One can’t help but be moved by this graphic depiction of a critical blood shortage.
- as a donor, it makes one want to rush to the nearest donor centre and roll up a sleeve
- as a collector, it must surely get one thinking hard about what’s best to do to make sure that the refill arrives before the outage!
My purpose in reposting this here however goes beyond solidarity with Irish friends and colleagues.
For the citizens, opinion-formers and decision-makers in the 135 countries in the Low and Middle Income category I would warmly recommend some thoughtful repeat viewing of this little video.
It is a vivid depiction of the total national blood supply in every one of those countries ….
Even in times of crisis, most High Income Countries, most of the time, have enough blood to meet clinical needs for transfusions.
Even in the best of times, ALL Low and Middle Income Countries, ALL the time have a fatal shortage somewhere.
Globally, never a day goes by without hundreds of deaths due to the shortage or complete absence of blood stocks.
Please consider the following suggestion –
- put the Irish video on a repeating loop display – several copies in several display units
- put a display on the desk of every Minister of Health and every senior Healthcare Official in your country
We talk a lot about ‘donor awareness’ in our field.
The secret to life-saving here is ‘collector awareness’ – and national commitment to action!!”
Irish Blood Transfusion Service shared a post on LinkedIn:
”O- blood supplies are down to just 2 days. If you’re O-, please give blood soon to help keep hospitals supplied.
Proceed to the video attached to the post.
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