Luxembourg’s Blood Transfusion Centre is urging people to donate as blood reserves fall below the minimum needed to maintain adequate hospital supplies over the coming weeks. A-negative and O-negative blood are particularly urgently needed, RTL Today reports.
Lionel Ferrant, the centre’s deputy director, said current stocks would last eight days under normal hospital operating conditions. That is the threshold the centre has chosen for issuing an alert.
The Red Cross appealed for donations just over a week earlier as supplies began running low. Explaining the timing of public appeals, Ferrant said the centre had to balance the need to encourage donations against the risk of creating unnecessary panic through constant warnings.
Several factors have contributed to the shortage, according to the report. The hot summer brought fewer visitors to the centre, and donor attendance did not recover as usual after the summer holidays. Seasonal infections, including colds, influenza and Covid, have also affected donations.
Ferrant said on Friday morning that many people had already responded to the appeal. Those coming forward included established donors who had given blood for years and first-time donors prompted by the call for help. Despite that response, the centre remained on alert.
The Red Cross has 15,000 registered blood donors and aims to recruit another 1,500 each year. That annual recruitment goal accompanies the immediate appeal to replenish supplies.
Ferrant said people in good health aged between 18 and 65 are potentially eligible to donate, although additional criteria apply to protect the quality and safety of donated blood. The Red Cross provides an online questionnaire to help prospective donors assess their eligibility, with further information available through its blood donation website.
