As the country continues to wrestle itself out of the grip of Covid-19, the need for blood and blood products continues.
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The South African National Blood Service’s (SANBS) commitment to saving lives has been challenged owing to pressure to keep blood stocks up while donations have been low.
This trend is experienced by blood banks the world over. The SANBS’ committed regular donors have always responded to calls for donations. However, mass reintegration of people into their places of work has slowed traffic to donor centres and mobile blood drives.
Covid-19 also limits SANBS’ access to schools, colleges and corporates where a majority of all blood is collected.
SANBS donor services staff have been hard at work collecting, on average, over 3 000 units of blood daily over the past few weeks.
Despite this, SANBS still struggles to meet the demand for Group O blood, which remains under pressure at around three days’ stock levels.
The heightened need for blood is likely to continue for some time, with many elective surgeries now taking place.
“SANBS is doing its utmost to continue to maintain adequate blood stock levels to service the needs of our country. The high demand for blood requires that we work even harder to ensure no loss of lives because of blood shortages,” said Ravi Reddy, chief operations officer.
While some South Africans may not be able to donate, they can still help collect much-needed blood.
“In our networks of friends, families and co-workers, there will always be someone who can donate blood.
Booking group donations and hosting mobile blood drive events is a meaningful way to mobilise your network to help save lives,” Reddy said.
Partner with the SANBS and lend a hand in ramping up donor recruitment efforts by urging healthy, eligible friends and family members to donate blood and help prevent shortages.
“In years past, our partners and community-minded supporters have kept us going. Through setting and meeting collective collection goals, we have successfully met the demand for blood. We also call on all our donors who are due for donation to visit their nearest donor centre to help boost low blood stocks,” Reddy said.
Visit the SANBS website, www.sanbs.org.za, to book a mobile blood drive or contact the call centre on 0800 11 9031.
Donate blood
The Kempton Park Donor Centre is located at 20 Central Avenue in Kempton Park.
The centre is open Mondays to Fridays from 10:00 to 18:00 and on Saturdays from 09:00 to 14:00.
Phone the Kempton Park centre on 011 970 4194.
Alternatively, visit the Greenstone Donor Centre at the corner of Modderfontein Road and Van Riebeeck Avenue in Greenstone Hill.
The Greenstone centre is open Mondays to Fridays from 09:00 to 17:00, on Saturdays from 09:00 to 16:00 and on Sundays from 09:00 to 14:00.
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