The German Red Cross (DRK) warns of a critical shortage of blood supplies. In North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate there are only as few blood supplies in stock as the hospitals use for their patients within a day, the DRK blood donation service West announced on Thursday in Ratingen.
This means that an “absolutely red line” has been reached. Actually, canned food should be in stock for five days. Because an unusually large number of people are sick at the moment, far fewer donors than usual come to the appointments.
The situation worsened again at the turn of the year. “Infectious diseases, respiratory diseases and the flu epidemic hit even more drastically in the already small group of regular blood donors,” said spokesman Stephan David Küpper.
In order to ensure the supply, the DRK blood donation service West needs up to 3500 blood donations every day. “Anyone who is healthy should donate blood now,” he appealed.
