At noon on Thursday, March 2, one and a half days after the tragic incident in Tempi, the National Blood Donation Center (EKEA) issued a statement thanking the thousands of citizens who rushed to donate blood. He informed them that the needs were fully met, and given that the deadline for donating blood is 35 to 42 days, he urged them to renew the registration for blood donation in the next period in connection with Easter.

According to EKEA, 19,000 units of blood were collected during the week of the accident. Under normal circumstances, this week’s blood draw, including a three-day vacation, would have been 10,000 units of blood. “That Wednesday evening by 21:30 we had collected about 100 units in our hospital, compared to 10-20 on a typical day. Another 200 citizens standing in line did not have time. But they insisted on staying and accused us of not holding blood donations,” Panagiotis Halvatsiotis, chairman of the board of directors, tells K. hospital “Elpis”, in which on the day of the accident there were queues for blood donation. As he notes, “the vast majority of them were children under 30 years old. Half of them donated blood for the first time. They had passion. They were charged because of the incident. You had the feeling that they were making a silent statement: “I’m not leaving unless I donate blood.”

“If emergency donations continue, we will run out of blood donations from regular voluntary blood donors that we will need in the next period and during the difficult Easter period. This tragic episode did not require much blood. However, since many things in life cannot be predicted, we must always be on the alert and not apply if necessary, ”emphasizes“ K ”Panagiotis Katsivelas, president of the National Blood Donation Center.

“There were hospital administrators who continued to call for blood donations even though sufficient supplies were provided. I understand that we all went crazy about this event and wanted to help in any way we could, but blood donation should be carried out under a central gaze, a central authority. The National Blood Donation Center should say “start and collect blood” and “stop collecting”. And we must obey both “start” and “stop”. Because otherwise we will create a big problem. Will all these donors be able to donate in a month, or will we run out of blood again?” says Joanna-Vana Myrilla, biopathologist, gc of the Panhellenic Association of Mediterranean Anemia Patients.

In the week following the accident, 19,000 units of blood were collected.

Greece collected 523,230 units of blood last year, according to EKEA. Another 20,000 units of blood were imported by the Swiss Red Cross. 65% of the collected blood units came from volunteers and 35.8% from replacement blood, i.e. from relatives of patients who received services in hospitals. On average, 30 units of blood are donated per 1,000 inhabitants in Greece. Volunteer blood donation is highest in Epirus and Crete, with over 36 units of blood per 1,000 inhabitants and approximately 75% of the total blood collected comes from volunteers. In Attica, 25 units of blood are collected per 1,000 inhabitants. The smallest supply is observed in the Aegean Islands and in Central Greece (20 and 21 units per 1000 inhabitants, respectively). The hospitals of Amfissa, Amalia Fleming, Agios Anargyro and Hatzikosta Ioannina have the best blood collection rates from volunteers (over 90% of the units they collect). At the opposite end are Sismanoglio, CAT and Agrinio (less than 40%).

During the emergency blood draw organized on the day of the accident in Tempi, many rushed to donate blood for the first time. As Mr. Katsivelas points out, there is generally an “invisible movement” of blood donations in the midst of the pandemic. The number of new primary blood donors has increased over the past two years, from 54,368 in 2020 to 63,501 in 2021 and to 95,743 last year. The question is how this will affect the stable blood supply. “It is estimated that there are currently 250,000-260,000 active voluntary blood donors in our country. If we had stable volunteers who would donate blood at least twice a year, we would not need replacement blood,” says the EKEA President.

Both he and Ms. Mirilla agree that centralized blood management is a key parameter for this. “It is very gratifying that these days some donated blood for the first time. A way must be found to include them as regular voluntary blood donors. This cannot be done without centralized blood management,” says Ms. Mirilla. According to Mr. Katsivel, in the direction of the central blood department, in October next year, the implementation of a unified information system will be completed, which will link 92 blood donation services of the country with EKEA and allow the center to know exactly what happens with each blood donation, how many units of blood it has and enters in real time, and also, depending on the need to give instructions for the blood collection program.

In blood donation, the principle “don’t let the left know what the right is doing” currently applies. “While we collected so much blood due to the accident, at the Hagia Sophia Nursery last Saturday, a heavily transfused man went to three blood donors to donate blood for him. In a hospital in Nice, a week after the accident, a patient with multiple blood transfusions received one blood transfusion instead of two,” notes Ms. Mirilla, and continues: “A blood donor cannot work intensively to collect blood and, despite everything, because he has a lot doesn’t need it to be able to cover patients, and at the same time, blood donation at the nearest hospital doesn’t work because there is enough. This should be centrally directed towards ensuring that everyone contributes for everyone. Let EKEA say, for example, why did Sismanoglio collect only 158 units of blood in the first quarter of 2022, while Agia Sophia collected 4,000 units in the same period?”