News
ALMERIA SELF-SUFFICIENT IN BLOOD DONATIONS
Kevin Reardon / 2012-08-08 18:47:04
The number of blood donations ensures that reserves in Almeria will be enough to see the province through the summer. A spokesman said that this has been achieved with the collections that have been made throughout the year. Good programming at the Blood Transfusion Centre and the support of donors means that Almería does not need any additional campaigns, to ensure blood supplies this summer.
The director of the Almeria Transfusion Centre, Aref Laares says that "good planning throughout the year has ensured adequate blood supplies during the summer. Our staff and the public collected well during the first part year which boosted the number of units we were able to keep in hand.
"The best proof of our self-sufficiency is that we never had to suspend a transaction in any hospital in the province," said Aref Laares. In Almeria we have been taking an average of 60 daily donations and have a minimum of 300 units available at any given time.
The blood donations marathons held in May and July helped enormously. In the month of May we were able to take 2,200 units of blood and this past July, 1,600 bags, “far more than last year," said Laares.
In order to ensure that we maintain adequate levels of blood the Almeria Transfusion Center has scheduled a total of 24 collections in different parts of the province during the month of August. During this period, mobile units will visit up to 16 different municipalities, in some of them staying for a number of days.
However as a Brit who is living in Spain you should be aware that you cannot give blood. After countless Leader readers contacted us seeking clarification, we recently got to the bottom of one of the most curious situations in Spain, one which affects lives, and one which has been the subject of many a discussion from the man in the bar to the proverbial garden fence, the question of why Brits are banned from giving blood in Spain.
The answer is that, for fear of Variant Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease, you are not eligible to donate blood if you spent time either visiting or living in the United Kingdom for a cumulative time of 3 months or more between January 1st, 1980, through to December 31st, 1996. You are also not allowed to donate blood if you have received a transfusion in any country of the UK, which includes England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Island, but also includes the Channel Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and the Isle of Man, any time from the 1st January 1980, right up to present day.
Paul Rodwell, the British Consulate in Alicante , confirmed these facts, stating, “What you refer to is correct, that anyone who lived in the UK between those dates cannot donate blood here in Spain. Confirmation of this can be found on the Spanish Red Cross blood donation website on their frequently asked question page”, which is www.donarsangre.org/puedo-donar-si/.
Full article at: http://www.theleader.info/article/35378/the-bloody-truth-about-donations/
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