More than 3,000 people turn up to give blood after Red Cross appeal for A+, O+ donors

SINGAPORE - An appeal to donate blood as supplies run low has drawn an overwhelming response, with more than 3,300 people coming forward over the past week.

This represents a 43 per cent increase from a typical week's collection, said the Singapore Red Cross (SRC), which is the Republic's national blood donor recruiter.

"We hope that this momentum will continue next week to bring our blood stocks up to healthy levels," said the humanitarian organisation.

Located at the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) building in Outram Road, the Bloodbank@HSA - one of four blood banks across the island - was packed when The Straits Times visited on Friday (July 15).

Among the donors there was Mr Goh Chee Wee, who said it was his first time donating since 1996.

Work and other commitments, which often require him to travel, left little time for him to donate blood in the years since then, said the 43-year-old army regular.

He was there with about 40 others from his unit, which had made an informal request for servicemen to volunteer to donate blood that day.

Mr Goh, whose blood type is A+, said he was inspired by recent social media posts put out by Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, who shared SRC's call for blood donors to come forward.

He added that as a sergeant major, he felt it was important to lead by example.

Full-time national serviceman Eldridge Surianto was a first-time blood donor.

The 19-year-old, who has O+ blood, said his decision to donate blood was a personal one - he has relatives who required blood transfusions because of cancer treatments.

"I was quite nervous at first," he said, noting that he had heard that giving blood could cause dizziness.

"But after this experience, I don't think it's that scary," said Mr Surianto, adding that he would consider doing it again in future.

On July 8, SRC had called for more blood donors, said a spokesman, as there was less than nine days' worth of A+ and O+ blood then.

A healthy stockpile of at least 12 to 15 days worth of blood is needed, with at least a nine-day supply of blood for possible civil and medical emergencies, the spokesman added.

"If the trend continues and (stock) falls to critical level, elective surgical procedures will have to be postponed in order to conserve the blood supply for life-saving emergencies."

Among the factors affecting the Republic's blood supply is the current wave of Covid-19 infections, said SRC.

"Many regular donors whom we have reached out to are either down with Covid-19 or have had close contact with Covid-19-positive individuals," said the SRC spokesman.

Those infected by Covid-19 need to wait at least 28 days after first testing positive before they can donate blood. This is to ensure that they have fully recovered.

SRC said blood collection during the June school holidays also tends to be lower, adding that blood banks are closed during public holidays.

It had also called for donors during Singapore's circuit breaker period in 2020, when blood stocks fell to critical levels amid movement restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus.

Other countries have also experienced blood shortages as the pandemic continues.

In January, the American Red Cross said it was facing what it described as its "worst blood shortage in over a decade", stating that it had been experiencing low blood donor numbers since August 2021, when the Delta variant began spreading.

There had been a 10 per cent decline in the number of people donating blood since the beginning of the pandemic, the American Red Cross said then.

SRC also called on those with rhesus (Rh) negative blood groups - namely those with O-, A-, B- and AB- blood types - to come forward to donate as the blood stocks for these groups are also low.

Only about 1 per cent of people in Singapore are Rh-negative, with AB- being the rarest of the negative blood types, SRC said.

The organisation urged those with negative blood groups to donate regularly, given the scarcity of their blood types.