Tougher than drawing blood from a stone

AT THE outset of the long weekend, the Western Province Blood Transfusion Service has enough blood to last four days.

But it has been encouraged by the number of young adults who are lining up to donate.

Delivering his report for the 2016/17 financial year at the service’s annual general meeting on Thursday, board chairperson Paul Slack said that 51% of its donors were men.

Donors were predominantly white, accounting for 64% of the province’s total blood donations, followed by 31% coloured donors, 4% black and 1% Asian.

Greg Bellairs, chief executive and medical director, said the service was satisfied with the number of blood donors in the Cape – of all ages.

“The biggest challenge we face is having sufficient blood, and recruiting and retaining donors. In the rural areas, we’ve got branches working there but, overall, we’re happy with the number of donors,” he said.

While the service has been researching how to attract more black donors, Bellairs has noticed an increase over the past five years.

According to the transfusion service report, donors aged between 40 and 49 gave the most blood (23%), while the 30-39 and 50-59 age groups contributed 20% each.

Only 8% of potential donors aged between 26 and 29 donated. The 18-25 age group’s donation made up 12% of donations, while pensioners contributed 13%.

A donor can give one unit of blood at a time, which is about 475ml.

The blood service collected 96 306 litres of blood from clinics in the Cape Peninsula for 2016/17 – a decrease from 101 557 litres in 2014/15, and 102 401 litres in 2015/16.

But the service recorded a sharp increase in first-time donors for the previous financial year, who gave 20 869 litres, in comparison to 15 187 litres in 2015/16.

A concern has been that of the 153 591 blood samples offered for donation in 2016/17, 63 tested positive for hepatitis B; five for hepatitis C; 52 for HIV; and 74 for syphilis.

The transfusion service report noted a slight increase in adverse transfusion reactions.

For 2016/17, 93 allergic reactions were detected, compared to 79 cases recorded the financial year before.

Corporate services director Nicky du Toit said the blood service has been faced with constant financial challenges.

She said the past three financial years were “stormy”.

PICTURE: JASON BOUD Recruiting and retaining donors are challenges for the Western Province Blood Transfusion Service.