Blood bank urges donations due to surge in violence

The National Blood Transfusion Centre (NBTC) in Baghdad has made an emergency appeal for blood donations following increased violence countrywide. According to doctors, there is an urgent need for negative blood-group donations in particular, which are not as common as other blood types. "We have a shortage in our blood stocks, particularly of the Rh-negative blood type, and we’ve called for emergency donations,” said NBTC Director Dr Hayder al-Shamari. This blood type is especially needed for people wounded in an explosion that rocked the capital on 28 February, killing at least 56 and leaving scores injured. "My son needs more supplies of the O-negative blood type to save his life. He was injured in an explosion near a check-point in eastern Baghdad a couple of days ago. The hospital could only give him one litre and he needs more but doctors said that it might take time," Ahmed Swadi, a carpenter in Baghdad said. According to Shamari, the need for blood has increased noticeably in the wake of a 22 February attack on a major Shi’ite religious shrine in Samarra, some 175 km north of the capital. Since then, there have been at least 400 deaths and hundreds of injuries in ongoing sectarian violence. “Violence broke out as a result of the attack, increasing the requirements for blood supplies in many cities," Shamari explained. “We provide hospitals with approximately 500 litres of blood per day, but in emergency situations like this, with explosions and other kinds of attacks, this quantity might double or triple.” The NBTC accepts donations from healthy donors aged between 18 and 65. "I came to give blood as soon as I heard the announcement on television,” said Mazen Suker, a laboratory assistant in Baghdad. “My blood group is of a negative type, and I know how important it is." The NBTC is located in the Bab al-Muadham district of Baghdad and is able to receive emergency donations 24 hours a day.