BLOOD STOCKS AT HOSPITAL

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27011, 10 April 1953, Page 2

BLOOD STOCKS AT HOSPITAL

FEW DEMANDS DURING HOLIDAYS The fine response to his appeal two weeks ago for blood donors, combined with an unusually low demand for blood transfusions, had resulted in the hospital’s stocks of blood rising to an unexpectedlv high level over the Easter holidays, said Dr. F. W. Gunz, medical officer in charge of the North Canterbury Centre oi the National Blood Transfusion Service, yesterday. Entering the Easter week-end with about 150 pints of blood in reserve, the centre was called on to supply only about 30 pints—a quantity much less than an average week-end’s requirements. Though much of the blood drawn off from the record number of donors in the week before the Easter, holidays was not immediately required, the surplus would serve a useful purpose in building up the stocks of plasma, said Dr. Gunz. The centre’s experience over the Easter holidays emphasised one of the main difficulties encountered by the service—that of a fluctuating, unpredictable demand, he said. To meet the emergencies which arose from time to tirfie, it was essential to have 400 or 500 more donors than the present 1800, said Dr. Gunz. Though the response to his recent appeal had been most gratifying, it was essential, if the centre was to provide the best possible service, for donors to make regular visits to the hospital. If all donors did this, no emergencies would arise.