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Drive to ease strain on blood supply

The constant shortage of blood faced by some mainland cities has prompted health authorities and hospitals to resort to unusual means to meet demand.

The Ministry of Health on Tuesday issued guidelines to promote the efficient use of donated blood ahead of World Blood Donor Day tomorrow, amid increasing pressure on the country's blood reserves.

Clinical blood supplies on the mainland come mainly from donations. An acute nationwide shortage began to emerge in 2010, when it was widely reported that operations were being delayed due to the lack of blood.

One of the unusual ideas hospitals have instigated is 'reciprocal blood donations', where patients have to arrange blood donations from their families equal to the amount that is likely to be required in their surgery.

Although reciprocal donations have been legal since 1998, they were originally intended as an emergency measure and were rarely used before the blood shortage in 2010.

'Reciprocal blood donations are a good measure and should be used regularly. They help doctors to nurture the habit of being stringent with blood supplies,' said Liu Jiang , director of the Beijing Red Cross Blood Centre.

'It is not easy to ask a patient's family to donate blood. When doctors are feeling the pressure of blood shortages they will not be extravagant with limited supplies.'

The Peking Union Medical College Hospital, on the other hand, has installed advanced medical equipment and introduced minimally invasive surgery procedures to reduce blood loss and the need for transfusions, said Yu Xiaochu , vice-president of the PUMCH.

Doctors are also rationed a certain quantity of blood depending on their seniority, and approval by a department head or even the president of the hospital is needed if larger amounts are required.

Patients at the hospital will only be given a transfusion if they lose a litre or more of blood, up from the previous 600 cubic cm.

'Thanks to more prudent use of blood, our supplies are being consumed more slowly even though our patient intake is rising by 5 to 8 per cent a year,' Yu said.

'The amount of in-patient operations rose 18 per cent between January and May, but the use of red blood cells in operations dropped 15 per cent.'

Official figures show that the number of patients receiving surgery increased 18.6 per cent in 2010 from 2009 whereas donated blood increased by only 7.7 per cent during the same period.

Only 9 per cent of mainland residents have donated blood, below the 10 to 30 per cent level said by the World Health Organisation to be essential to meet a country's basic blood supplies.

The authorities have extended the suitable age for blood donation from 55 to 60 and allows free use of blood by former donors in the same province to encourage public donations.

Health minister Chen Zhu has donated blood six times to promote public donations.

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