Plea for blood donors

NICOSIA General Hospital yesterday appealed for emergency blood donations, as its blood bank has insufficient supplies to meet this weekend’s demands.

The Head of Medical Services, Constantinos Mallis, said that normally 120 bottles of blood are kept in reserve for the weekend, but that the blood bank only had 90 bottles in stock yesterday.

“We are calling for donors to cover our needs for the weekend in case of emergency accidents,” he said. “Unfortunately during all holiday periods such as Christmas, as well as Easter and around August 15, more blood is used because there are more traffic accidents, and there fewer people around to donate more.”

Limassol may not have a decreased supply of blood in store, but it does not perform specialised operations that involve a lot of blood, such as neurosurgery or heart surgery, said Mallis.

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