HEALTHNation's blood supply failing to meet demandFears emerge that new restrictions on blood donors will add to a year of national shortages.By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. Aug. 20, 2001. Washington -- Campaigns for blood donations are likely to become more vigorous in the near future as blood supplies dip, demand grows and new restrictions on who can donate come into play. Blood supplies have been generally low this year, and some areas have experienced critical shortages. "Many of us believe we're on the brink of a crisis," said Harvey Klein, MD, president of the American Assn. of Blood Banks. "For the first time in memory, we've had a year of national shortages, not just regional shortages and not just shortages at what are generally considered to be the time periods when blood is always in short supply," he said. The American Red Cross sees blood shortages as cyclical events that have occurred regularly during the last 50 years. But the organization, the nation's prime supplier of blood, has had enough of that. "One of the safety issues out there right now is the availability of blood," said Jerry Squires, MD, chief scientific officer for the Red Cross. "Not only does the individual unit have to be as safe as it can be, but there have to be enough of them to treat all the patients who need them." The margin between the supply of donated blood and the demand for blood for transfusions shrank substantially over the last decade, according to a report by the National Blood Data Resource Center, an independent organization founded by the American Assn. of Blood Banks. Given the tenuous balance between donations and need, new restrictions on who may donate blood are being viewed with dismay by many.
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Copyright 2001 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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