12 January 2013| last updated at 12:11AM
KUALA LUMPUR: The National Blood Bank Malaysia (NBBM) needs volunteers to lend a helping hand to ensure the blood supply nationwide remains constant.
Its recruitment and publicity division head, Dr Norris Naim, said the primary reason for blood shortage was due to the hectic schedule the public were faced with.
"This situation gets even worse during the festive and holiday seasons when many are out of town travelling.
"The public should be aware that road accidents are not the contributing factor for the increase in demand for blood as the request has always been constant.
"It is the supply that is affected as the blood we have comes with a limited storage life."
Dr Norris said that the request for more blood also came from hospitals in the country, to enable them to perform more treatments and life-saving surgeries.
He said the blood donated to NBBM would be distributed to hospitals around the Klang Valley for both surgical and medical purposes.
"We have been experiencing shortage since the Christmas season and this is expected to continue till the Chinese New Year celebrations."
Dr Norris said that all types of blood were in high demand to suit the differing needs of patients.
Some of the criteria of a potential blood donor are: He or she must be healthy, must not have contaminated blood, must have enough haemoglobin (12.5 g/deciliter), and must be aged 18-60 years, weighing at least 45kg.
"As part of the New Year resolution, I hope the public would pledge to become donors," he said, adding that during holiday season, the blood supply would drop by 30 to 50 per cent.
Dr Norris said the public could donate blood at NBBM, Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital, Klang, University Malaya Medical Centre, hospitals, and during NBBM mobile drive in Klang Valley.
In Kota Kinabalu, an emergency campaign is on at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Blood Bank to get more donors to give blood.
The shortage at the blood bank has resulted in the postponement of some elective or non-emergency surgeries.
Apart from calling on the soldiers and police, the hospital has also turned to the social media website Facebook for help.
State health director Dr Christina Rundi said that blood donations were generally low in December and January because of school holidays and festivities.
As a result of the blood shortage, there has been a rescheduling of elective surgeries, especially for those with A and O blood types.
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