KOTA BHARU, June 1 — The blood supply of Raja Perempuan Zainab Hospital (HRPZ) II here is at a critical level and can only last for three days.
Hospital director Datuk Dr Selasawati Ghazali said supply is not stable due to the ongoing implementation of Movement Control Order (MCO) to contain COVID-19 transmission while the need for blood continues to rise.
“Our blood supply issue is very critical at the moment, besides encouraging our hospital staff to donate their bloods, we are also trying to contact our friends from non-governmental organisations (NGO) to come forward to donate blood.
“Besides that, we are also extending the operation of HRPZ II blood transfusion centre until 11 pm,” she told reporters at the hospital, here, today.
Commenting further, Dr Selasawati said on average the usage of blood supplies in Ministry of Health hospitals in the state is around 100 to 120 bags per day while usage at HRPZ II is 50 to 80 bags daily.
However, she said blood collection throughout MCO since Feb until May was unsatisfactory due to lack of movement and absence of university students.
“As such I appeal to the people of Kelantan to come to the hospital to donate blood because we cannot organise major programmes outside now, thus becoming a constraint for us to obtain blood supply.
“Former COVID-19 patients who are planning to donate blood should have recovered for at least three months,” she said, while urging more healthy and non ex-COVID-19 patient to do so.
She said the hospital also hopes with the implementation of the total lockdown, can also reduce the demand for blood supply, due to movement restriction that lead to drop in emergencies, accidents or trauma, which might require high volume of blood supply during emergency surgeries.
“As such, with this measure (total lockdown) we can maximise the supply for patients like pregnant mothers in labour or permanent hospital clients including Thalassaemia patients,” she said.
