Blood donations negatively affected by unrest

SANBS said pockets of violence and instability across the country may potentially affect their mobile blood drives and donor centres negatively.

Some scheduled blood drives may need to be cancelled or postponed to more suitable dates and times.

“We anticipate this will continue to negatively affect our blood collections for as long as they continue as we will not be able to collect sufficient blood units that were scheduled for this time,” said SANBS spokesperson Silungile Mlambo.

“With the rising Covid-19 infection rates, we anticipate added pressure on our blood stocks in coming weeks. The safety of our donors is important to us and we implore everyone willing to visit our donor centres to exercise increased vigilance to ensure their safety.

“We strongly advise continuing to visit our donor centres to donate blood only if it is safe to do so. Where protest action has had no effect, our operations are continuing as normal and all measures are being taken to protect our employees, donors and all stakeholders.”

Donors in affected areas are urged to take caution and delay donation until it is safe to do so.

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To be eligible to donate blood, you must:

• Be between the ages of 16 and 75 years

• Weigh 50kg or more

• Be in good health

• Lead a healthy lifestyle

• Consider your blood safe for transfusion to a patient

• Commit to donating blood regularly.

To find out more about where you can donate blood, visit www.sanbs.org.za or call 0800 11 90 31

Connect with them on Twitter (@theSANBS), Facebook (@SANBS) and Instagram (@thesanbs).

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