The Western Cape Blood Service has called on people to urgently donate blood as they only have supplies to last only a day.
A spokesperson for the blood service, Michelle Vermeulen, says a crisis is facing them, which has forced the service to also call on new donors to come forward to help.
Supplies at hospitals are almost depleted.
Vermeulen says there is a basic criteria that needs to be followed before someone can become a blood donor.
“You have to be older than 16 and younger than 65. You need to weigh more than 50 kilos. You need to be healthy on the day of donation; so no colds and flues, and you need to lead a safe sexual lifestyle.”
Blood in higher demand because road crashes
The South African National Blood Service this week says their current blood stock can only last them for the next three days.
The high number of road crashes during the holiday season results in blood being in higher demand than at any other time of the year.
SANBS has urged the community to donate blood during this period. SANBS provincial spokesperson, Sifiso Khoza says donating blood should be an everyday activity.
“We need those 3000 thousand units in order to keep us going for at least five days. As of this morning we are only on 3 days stock so it means that the blood that we have have can only keep us going for three days. So we are kindly appealing to every listener to please take 30 minutes of their time and visit one of our nearest blood donor centres or visit us in any of the major shopping centers and shopping malls where we have got our mobile units.”
