Canadian Blood Services says it is having difficulty replenishing its national reserves which are at an alarmingly low level due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the organization, the coronavirus has had the effect of reducing the number of donors to its lowest in a decade.
“The number of people donating blood regularly across Canada has dropped by 31,000 since the start of the pandemic, which has put even more pressure on the rest of the donor community,” explained the executive director of Supply Chain and Vice President of Donor Relations, Rick Prinzen.
“Many of our regular donors already give several times a year,” he adds.
His team oversees the inventories from which blood and blood products are routinely distributed across the country to meet the needs of hospitals and their patients.
About 400,000 Canadians donate blood on a regular basis, but these products have an expiry date. For frozen plasma, we are talking about a year. For red blood cells, we have 42 days. For platelets, we only have five days. Thus, one must be sure to count on constant contributions to ensure that supply meets demand.
Canadian Blood Services says it hopes National Blood Donor Week, taking place this week, will attract 100,000 new donors this year. The catch is that the summer season is normally a low time for donations as people often cancel their appointments and go on vacation.
“Patients’ lives depend on the mobilization of new donors,” insists Mr. Prinzen.
Demand for blood products had fallen sharply at the height of the pandemic with travel restrictions and the cancellation of large numbers of surgeries. At the same time, Canadian Blood Services had to slow down due to physical distancing guidelines, so there was some balance.
Now that life is back to normal, demand continues to increase, Prinzen points out, and donors need to be there.