Italy’s national blood centre issued an urgent appeal for donors after warning that stocks were running low nationwide, with hospitals in Lazio, Campania and Sicily worst affected.
Hospitals across Italy are struggling to keep enough blood in stock for urgent transfusions and surgery, and Italy’s centro nazionale sangue (national blood centre) warned of a nationwide shortfall, particularly of the O positive group.
No Italian region holds any surplus stock, the CNS said on Thursday, meaning hospitals couldn’t draw on supplies from elsewhere in the country as they normally would.
Donor association Fidas issued a call for more people to donate around Italy. “Our network is once again being asked to show that it can respond,” said its president, Giovanni Musso, who urged regular donors and first-timers to contact their local association or transfusion service immediately.
As often happens in summer, the CNS said, regular blood donations dropped during the holiday period but hospitals continue to need blood for scheduled surgeries, cancer treatment and emergencies.
