A large glass door, a sign in front of the entrance in one of the busiest streets in Toulouse, right in the city center: it’s hard to miss the Maison du Don du sang here. At the reception, Thierry receives around 90 people a day. “People stop, come and ask us if they can’t donate that day, they make an appointmenthe explains. We really take spontaneous donors with pleasure.”
>> The French Blood Establishment warns of dangerously low stocks and calls for donations
Behind him, the waiting room is rather full. There are a lot of young people there, like Quentin.
“When I was little, my father had a car accident and he needed a lot of blood. For me, giving can save lives, save people like my father.”
Quentin, donorat franceinfo
“And even for me, if ever one day I have an accident, I will be very happy to have blood”, adds Quentin.
Except that’s not enough. At the moment, inventory levels are historically low. 100,000 bags of blood are needed to manage all the needs of patients, but there are only 70,000 at the moment, which is equivalent to 11 days of stock.
And it’s even worse in Occitania, with only 8 days of stocks available. “What particularly worries us is that this situation has been going on for several months now.warns Doctor Marie-Christine Guehl, responsible for taking samples for the Garonne basin at the French Blood Establishment. We can’t get back up despite several calls to the population to come and donate blood. It is really necessary that all people who are old enough to give ask themselves the question. Blood products, nothing can replace them.”
10,000 donations are needed per day in France. If you want to donate your blood and find out where it will be collected, you will find all the information on the “Don de sang” app, or by going to the website dondesang.efs.sante.fr or by calling the toll-free number 0800.744.100 .