Minister of Health says Portugal has adequate blood supply

The National Blood Donor Day that is celebrated today serves to honor donors

The Minister of Health said today that Portugal "has an adequate reserve" of blood, but, on a day when he called for regular donation, he acknowledged that the strikes in February and March may have hampered the availability of donors.

«All difficulties add to the difficulties of everyday life that each one has. We can imagine that, for example in February and March, the transport strikes could have made it difficult, but all that will be quickly overcome because the Portuguese are very supportive», said Manuel Pizarro.

In Porto, where he started the day donating blood at the mobile unit of the Instituto Português do Sangue e da Transplantação (IPST) installed in the gardens of the Palácio de Cristal, the Minister of Health guaranteed that, «despite a certain reduction in donations», Portugal has "at this moment the adequate reserve".

«There is no security issue, but this is a dynamic reality. Needs increase every day and we have to be very attentive so that there are no difficulties. In this case, difficulties means the possibility of a person surviving or not surviving», he stressed.

In an interview with Jornal de Notícias, IPST president Maria Antónia Escoval said that after a «surprising» January, February and March were «very weak» months in blood collections, attributing the difficulties to «transport strikes and some convulsion Social".

On National Blood Donor Day, Manuel Pizarro did not want to comment on other current issues to "focus the message on the appeal to donate", stressing that he is not concerned with the blood reserve because he knows that "the Portuguese are very generous".

“We have more than 245.000 regular blood donors. In the year 2022, 32.000 Portuguese joined this large group of people who donate blood, but the truth is that we have growing needs because Medicine has evolved and is increasingly sophisticated. We do more organ transplants, more complex surgeries and needs are increasing », he said, reinforcing the appeal.

"It costs nothing," he emphasized.

Asked about the appeals of some institutions so that, in addition to the traditional donation of blood, donors adhere to the donation of specific blood components, such as platelets, Manuel Pizarro said that the institutes are in a position to inform donors because "the collection can be optimized».

«The institutes are in a position to inform donors, on a case-by-case basis, of the possibility that we have to select the offer. Most of the collections are from whole blood and then the different components are separated in the laboratory, but we can optimize this collection if, right after the collection, we perform a separate collection of some components», he said.

Promising that «the system will continue to be improved», the Minister of Health also recalled that it is necessary «to wait for the new regulation of the European Union for the collection and transplantation of blood and organs».

«We hope that this regulation creates mechanisms that facilitate the collection of components separately», he concluded.

The National Blood Donor Day that is celebrated today serves to honor donors who fulfill their duty of citizenship with a simple and altruistic gesture, which is a gesture capable of saving lives.

 



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