LIMERICK donors are being asked to give blood urgently, with a massive shortage of supplies meaning doctors may soon have to decide whether or not to continue operating.
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service has warned that blood stocks in the Mid West have reached a very serious level this week, with less than three days of stocks in hand.
The service needs an additional 5,000 donations nationally over the next eight weeks.
Donations have been hit by a perfect storm of factors, including Covid and hospitals ramping up on surgeries that were cancelled during the height of the pandemic.
IBTS MidWest Area Manager, Grace O’Sullivan says the service urgently needs “stocks of blood in all groups but most urgently, O negative.”
She said that should stocks fall any further the service will be “in an amber light situation where hospitals will have to consider elective surgeries…if we go to a Red Light situation it will be life-saving situations only.”
The service normally operates on an appointments system but Ms O’Sullivan said they will be using a more flexible system for the immediate future.
The ITBS website has full details of donor clinics and information about donating.
