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Serious shortage of reserves at blood bank because of curfew

06 Nov, 2020

By Indika Sri Aravinda

There is a serious shortage of blood at the National Blood Bank because of the curfew in the Western Province, officials said today.

Director of the National Blood Transfusion Service Dr. Lakshman Edirisinghe told the Colombo Gazette that the curfew in Colombo has prevented people from coming forward to donate blood at the blood bank in Colombo.

He said that usually there are 13,000 units of reserve blood stored at the blood bank but that has dropped to 5500 units.

Dr. Lakshman Edirisinghe said that the blood bank continues to provide blood to hospitals in the country and this has resulted in a serious drop in the reserves.

He said that most of the blood is donated to the blood bank by people in the Western Province.

Dr. Edirisinghe said that because of the curfew in the Western Province the public are unable to come forward to donate blood.

He also said that 15 blood donation camps scheduled to be held in the Western Province have been cancelled because of the curfew.

Dr. Edirisinghe appealed to the public in non-curfew areas, especially where there is very little or no spread of the coronavirus, to contact the blood bank on 0115-332153 or 0115-332154 and make an appointment to donate blood. (Colombo Gazette)

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