In a statement, FEPODABES draws attention to the need to create new, effective promotion strategies to encourage more people to donate blood, increase the number of donations and involve younger people to become regular donors.

The federation's appeal follows another published on social media by the Portuguese Institute of Blood and Transplantation (IPST), which in the message released on Wednesday asks all donors who are able to make a new blood donation to do so, especially those with blood groups A+, A-, O+ and O-.

The IPST explains the impact on blood reserves with seasonality related to respiratory diseases and assumes that currently, in these blood groups, reserves are “insufficient to meet patients’ needs”.

Speaking to Lusa, the president of the institute, Maria Antónia Escoval, said that this is a “seasonal situation that happens every year” and that occurs throughout the country.

In the case of the Lisbon region, the person in charge indicated that the Local Health Unit (ULS) of Santa Maria, the ULS São José, and the ULS Amadora/Sintra are “really lacking these blood groups”.

Maria Antónia Escoval also said that between January 1st and today, 118 liver, kidney, heart, lung and pancreas transplants have been carried out in Portugal, which “also leads to consumption of blood components”.

“In addition to these patients, to whom we have to respond because they are human lives, we also have all the oncological patients, the hemato-oncological patients, who need therapy with blood and blood components, the trauma patients, the accident patients and those patients who have blood diseases and who regularly need blood transplants,” he added.

Quoted in the statement, the president of FEPODABES, Alberto Mota, appeals to all citizens over 18 years old, who weigh more than 50 kilos and are healthy to donate blood, highlighting that it is a simple gesture that “contributes to saving many lives”.

FEPODABES also reminds us that around a thousand units of blood are needed every day and a single unit of blood “can help up to three lives”.

Information about official blood collection sites is available at www.fepodabes.pt and on the portal www.dador.pt.

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