Johannesburg - The ongoing protests at the country’s universities is having a severe impact on another sphere - blood donations.
The SA National Blood Service (SANBS) has made an urgent appeal to all eligible blood donors to donate as the country grapples with a critical blood shortage.
SANBS said that the one of the main factors affecting donations was the ongoing strikes at universities across the country.
“Students make up an average of about 40 percent of the 2 000 units of blood we collect a day; with the ongoing strikes we can’t get on to university campuses,” said SANBS spokeswoman Vanessa Raju.
“It’s made it dangerous for our staff to set up mobile clinics. Depending on various factors we collect between 100 and 200 units of blood on campus daily,” she added.
Raju said that at this stage SANBS has only 1.3 days of blood left.
“To recover from this we need to collect 5 000 units a day, at the moment we’re not even getting close to 3 000 units a day. The student age group we rely on is from about 16 to 21 years old. We do go to schools but with matrics writing prelims at the moment, we rely more on the universities because they are flexible,” she said.
The combination of schools writing exams and university protests is having a major impact on the blood supplied to hospitals countrywide.
“Hospitals have had to cancel scheduled operations because at this stage we don’t even have enough for emergency cases, never mind complications in a surgery. The lives of families, patients and cancer patients are impacted directly. If you have a child who was scheduled for surgery and they’ve prepared themselves emotionally only to be told no because of the blood shortage, it has a bad effect on them,” Raju explained.
She said that cancer patients who needed platelets and blood transfusions as part of their treatment regime were also badly impacted.
“It’s a life-and-death situation. We are appealing to any and all eligible donors and those able to donate to come through and give blood. Now is the time to come out,” Raju pleaded.
* Meanwhile, in a separate incident, Wits University confirmed on Monday night that one of its workers died last week following protest-related action at one of its residents.
The university took to social media to extend its condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the deceased.
In a statement, the university said it had received a report that an employee of one of its service providers who worked in a residence, had passed away.
“Last Tuesday, students released a fire extinguisher in the Jubilee Hall of Residence, which affected a cleaner in the building. The worker was rushed to the Campus Health and Wellness Centre and then taken to hospital where the worker was treated for a few days,” the university said.
According to the university, the worker was discharged from hospital and then passed away.
“The cause of death is still to be determined. The university is awaiting a report from the service provider before commenting further,” it added.
* For more information on how you can help or donate call SANBS on: 0800 11 90 31
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The Star