Positive news can be reported after an appeal for more blood donations was made in March. Dr Andrée Heinricy explains how hospitals were subsequently almost overrun by volunteers: “It was important to mobilise people, since there remain many pressing patients that require blood transfusions, even in times of corona.”
More people registered as donors in that two-week period than ever before, with almost 1,800 people signing up: “This of course meant that we could not see all the people right away, which brings the advantage however that we can now distribute donors over a longer period of time.”
To become a donor, one needs to be between the age of 18 and 60. Luxembourg annually registers between 13,000 and 14,000 donors. In 2019, a total of 19,000 blood donations and 2,500 plasma donations were used. Especially plasma transfusions remain an issue, since fewer volunteers can be found.
