Blood banks stock up additional units ahead of measles drive

Muscat, Sept 16 - Many blood banks had stocked up on additional units of blood which will suffice for weeks, in view of National Measles Immunisation Campaign (NMIC). Reason: the donors have to wait until a month after vaccination before they can donate blood. Ahead of the vaccination campaign, the blood banks across the country had urged people to donate blood through different blood donation centres at health institutions. “Fifty per cent of our donors are youth, who have got themselves vaccinated. Therefore, we had made prior plans to prevent shortage of blood during the campaign,” said an official at the Bausher Blood Bank. The bank also plans to intensify its blood donation campaign and ask those below 20 years or older than 35 years to donate blood. Dr Khalid al Balushi, Head of the Blood Bank Services Department at the ministry, had earlier said the “need for blood is continuous” and there are donors who are committed to donating constantly, sometimes for more than 100 times. “Until June this year, we had more than 59,000 donors from all blood groups,” he said. Zainab al Nassri