Citing blood shortages, Magen David Adom calls for donors

Emergency rescue service says it has serious need for both O positive and Rh negative types

By Stuart Winer

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and Judah Ari Gross 29 November 2016, 11:05 pm

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The Magen David Adom medical service on Tuesday said it is facing a shortage in blood bank supplies and called on the public to donate units to restock its reserves.

There is a seriously depleted stock of blood types O-positive and Rh-negative, the Hebrew-language Ynet website reported.

MDA, the privately funded Israeli parallel of the Red Cross, manages the country’s centralized blood bank, providing units to civilian hospitals around the country and to the Israel Defense Forces.

According to the MDA website over 280,000 blood units are collected every year, 90 percent of which comes from MDA mobile blood units.

Illustrative. A volunteer gives blood at a Magen David Adom mobile blood donation center. (Daniel Dreifuss/Flash90)

Earlier this month MDA laid the cornerstone for a state-of-the-art blood bank between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, saying the underground building will be protected against missile strikes and earthquakes.

Prof. Eilat Shinar, head of MDA’s blood services, said she expects the NIS 385 million ($100 million) facility will be built within the next three years, but admitted she’s “an optimist.”

MDA’s current blood bank, built in the 1980s, is located in the Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv. The facility maintains some 250,000 units of blood — enough to make any hemophobe go light-headed — and is not effectively protected against attack.