Canada has just a few days of O+ and O- blood in banks across the country at a time when donor numbers are at their lowest in a decade, according to Canadian Blood Services.
The agency’s website, Blood.ca, contains a count of days’ supply for specific blood types, which is updated regularly. As of late Thursday, there were only three days of O+ blood and four days of O- blood in the national inventory.
“All blood types are important but there is a constant need for O-negative blood donors,” CBS spokeswoman Delphine Denis said in an email. “In emergency situations, when there is no time to confirm a patient’s blood type, O-negative blood can mean the difference between life and death.”
While summer is usually a tough time for fundraising, the band says there are several reasons that make it particularly difficult this year.
As this is the first summer since the pandemic with relatively few restrictions, donors have less time to donate amid the return to pre-pandemic activities, CBS says. This is exacerbated by ongoing COVID cases and isolation rules (which prevent most individuals from donating if they have been exposed to the virus in the past 14 days), weather events and rare opportunities to recruit donors in person.
Some donors canceled appointments after the organization made masking optional in late July. The agency said it made the decision after consulting medical and epidemiological experts.
The group says it needs 57,000 potential donors across Canada (excluding Quebec, which has a separate agency) to book appointments before the end of August to ensure there are enough supply for patients who need it.
“We urge new and returning blood, platelet and plasma donors to make and keep appointments,” Denis said, noting that since July 1 collections are “decreasing steadily.”
Based on existing nominations, the nonprofit group is expected to fall short of its fundraising goal by 3,000 units over the coming week, Denis said early this afternoon. This equates to a 17% drop in the national blood supply.
The agency has been calling attention to the low blood supply for months, noting that it has lost 31,000 regular donors during the pandemic. In June, the organization said it was trying to restore a national blood supply “to a critical level”.
On average, Canadian Blood Services recommends having at least eight days’ supply for each blood type.
Here’s what the website said just after 4 p.m. Thursday:
The need for blood, plasma and platelets is “constant,” Denis said, especially for cancer patients, accident and trauma victims, people undergoing surgery and people with blood disorders. .
Canada needs more than 100,000 new donors this year to meet demand, the group added.
“We are one of the few blood operators in the world that did not experience a blood crisis or issue a national appeal during the pandemic,” Denis said.
In January, the American Red Cross declared its first national blood crisis as cases of Omicron spiked.
“Doctors have been forced to make difficult decisions about who receives blood transfusions and who will have to wait until more products become available,” the group said in a statement at the time.
In January 2016, Canada faced a shortage of platelets, prompting the CBS to declare an orange phase, according to an article in the Canadian Journal of Medical Laboratory Science. This meant that there was not enough inventory to meet all of the routine patient needs.
During an orange phase, hospitals postpone or cancel elective surgeries and adjust their optimal inventory levels, among other actions. The orange phase ended in 36 hours.
In contrast, a red phase occurs when the supply is not sufficient, even for patients who require non-elective transfusions. During a red phase, resources are rationed, forcing hospitals with patients in need to triage which patients receive blood products first, as directed by the National Advisory Committee on Blood and Blood Products.
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