Ministry of Healthcare of Tatarstan: 'The number of recipients who need donor blood is growing'

There are no problems with donated blood, but the need is growing

Today, there are no problems with providing medical institutions with donated blood in Tatarstan. However, as the press service of the Ministry of Healthcare of Tatarstan told Realnoe Vremya, the need for medical organisations and the number of recipients who need it is growing.

Every year, the Blood Supply Service prepares more than 50 tonnes of donated blood components — this is enough to provide assistance to more than 30,000 patients. At the same time, the daily need depends on the number of patients of a particular blood type

“At any moment and in any place, an accident can occur with a large loss of blood. During such situations, the demand for donated blood increases sharply. Pre-examined blood components are transfused, which are much more effective and safer for the patient. For this, it is necessary that the blood supply exists constantly, i.e. that donors donate blood for patients not when 'something has already happened', but in advance. It is always necessary to have a strategic reserve!” they explained in the ministry of healthcare.

As for the need for blood, there is a so-called “Donor's Light” on the website of the republican centre, which shows the demand for blood in a specific period of time. The green color indicates the blood types that have sufficient reserves, the yellow color indicates the blood types that are needed, and the red color indicates the blood types that are urgently needed. If only the fourth blood type was in sufficient quantity the day before in the morning, then today this situation has already changed.

Another point is the decline in donor activity, which is noted annually not only in Tatarstan, but also in Russia as a whole.

“This is primarily due to the vacation period and the period of student holidays. Since a significant share of the donor contingent in the republic is student youth. Therefore, the Blood Supply Centre conducts field work with the participation of a mobile complex and donor actions," the ministry of healthcare states.

There is no link between vaccination against COVID-19 and a decrease in the number of donors

There is no direct connection between vaccination against coronavirus in the Republic of Tatarstan and a slight decrease in donors — this is how the ministry of healthcare commented on media reports about the shortage of donor blood due to the mass vaccination campaign. This information was also denied by the press service of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA) of Russia. However, there is still a medical exemption from donation after vaccination — its term by order of the federal ministry of healthcare is 30 calendar days.

“Since the vaccination against COVID-19 is done in two stages, it should take at least a month after the administration of the second component of the vaccine before the donor can come to the Blood Supply Centre again. By this time, the immune system should be in a stable state and will be able to develop an immune response," the Tatarstan ministry of healthcare stressed.

Moreover, they are invited to donate blood after vaccination, as soon as the specified period expires.

“Those who have had COVID-19 can help in the treatment of severe patients with the new coronavirus infection. To do this, it is necessary to become a blood plasma donor, which has now become widely used in complex therapy in the treatment of Covid-19 patients in infectious hospitals. It is proved that the plasma of a sick person has a high therapeutic effect, since it contains virus neutralising antibodies, usually of a high titer. In other words, the blood plasma of a recovered person becomes the strongest natural antiviral agent," the department stated.

The admission of a donor to donate plasma has mandatory requirements. They are include:

• age from 18 to 55 years, body weight more than 50 kg;
• satisfactory state of health, no complaints, satisfactory objective status, no symptoms of ARVI;
• official medical assessment report of approved form on COVID-19 infection, on clinical and laboratory confirmation of recovery, presence of examinations according to the extract from medical record (you must have it with you when you donate).