BLOOD-GIVING

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 284, 27 August 1930, Page 10

BLOOD-GIVING

Need for Service TRANSFUSION CALLS Medical Man’s Appeal An appeal for the Inauguration of a blood transfusion service in Wellington was made by Dr. A. A. Tennent in an address delivered last evening under the auspices of the New Zealand branch of the British Red Cross Society. Dr. Tennent referred to the service in London where it was possible at a moment’s notice to get in touch with donors of blood. There, he said, the Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, Toe H, Y.M.C.A., and other organisations were rendering valuable assistance. All a doctor had to do was to ring up the Red Cross Society, inform it of his requirements, and a few minutes later the transfusion was taking place. “The service in London,” he said, “has developed to such an extent that it is just like ringing up the grocer’s and ordering a loaf of bread.”

He could not say definitely how many cases of blood transfusion occurred every month in Wellington, but he commended to the local Red Cross Society the suggestion that a service similar to that in England should be Instituted here. In his opinion there was a need for it, and he felt sure that action in that direction would be greatly appreciated by the medical profession.

In a most interesting address on “The Blood” Dr. Tennent said that the actual amount of blood in the human body was about a gallon, or roughly about a thirteenth of the body weight. A person eould lose about a third of the quantity of blood in the body without being unduly collapsed, but after that life was in danger.