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Voices

Global Blood Supply Under Threat: David McIntosh Calls for Action to Support Transfusion Services

David McIntosh/LinkedIn

Sep 17, 2025, 09:43

Global Blood Supply Under Threat: David McIntosh Calls for Action to Support Transfusion Services

David McIntosh, Founder and Chair of United Plasma Action, posted on LinkedIn:

”This post from Denis Oduor brings an important message vividly to life.
Every hour of every day – every minute, somewhere in the World – an emergency is unfolding in which the immediate availability of safe blood is absolutely essential.
Transfusion Services staff all over the World do a fabulous job in trying to make sure that the right blood IS there, in the right place at the right time.
What is rarely appreciated, especially in affluent countries like ours here in the UK, is the extent to which all those efforts are prone to failure in less priviliged parts of the World.

Our message to those nations still struggling with inadequate blood supplies and consequently high death rates must surely be –
“If the BTS teams are prepared to work long hours, and sometimes even forego food, to help save patients’ lives – what are the Authorities prepared to forego, in order to finance those efforts more adequately? When will the BTS be given the full tool-kit – enough to provide blood for everyone who needs it ?”

Quoting Denis Odour‘s post:

“The Day Lunch Broke Up With Me in the Lab

I walked into the lab early thinking: ‘Finish quick, grab lunch.’
But lunch had other plans. It stood me up.

By midday, my stomach was ready to riot.
But the blood samples? Oh, they had just started their parade.

Every time I thought, ‘This is the last one,’ another request appeared.
Crossmatching for mothers in the maternity ward felt endless.
And it was Saturday.
Who even orders this many tests on a Saturday?

Then it hit me.
Behind every single tube was not just a sample.
It was a mother. A story. A life waiting for safe blood.

So yes, I stayed hungry.
Because sometimes, skipping a meal is the price of making sure someone else gets another chance at life.

This is what happens in the lab.
You don’t always see it.
But these small, unseen sacrifices keep families whole.

Lesson? Science is not just work — it’s service.
Sometimes, choosing humanity comes before choosing comfort.
If it were you, what would you choose in that moment — food or saving a life?”

DENIS ODUOR

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