The health sector of the Palestinian NGOs Network in Gaza released the fact sheet today to highlight the severe challenges facing the blood bank system and the services it provides amidst the ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip.
The fact sheet notes that blood banks play a crucial role in Gaza's health system, contributing to saving the lives of many patients and injured individuals by providing safe and suitable blood. With the increased pressure on the health system due to the ongoing war and the rise in the number of injured to over 90,257 and the number of martyrs to over 39,145, there is a constant need for the provision of safe blood units.
The document emphasizes that Gaza requires an average of 35,000-40,000 blood units annually under normal conditions, a figure that increases significantly during emergencies. However, due to the challenges impeding its ability to collect, store, and distribute blood safely, the blood bank system is unable to meet this demand.
"Nahd Abu Asi, a board member of the Central Blood Bank Association in Gaza, stated that the association is facing a severe shortage of essential resources, including medical equipment and supplies necessary for blood collection, preservation, and transportation, such as donation bags, tests for blood safety from viruses and infectious bacteria, and fuel for operating generators after solar panels were destroyed by bombing. The association’s premises in Khan Younis and Rafah were completely destroyed, and partially destroyed in Gaza City, making it increasingly difficult to provide services effectively.”
The fact sheet warns that without the necessary resources to boost blood donation campaigns, the blood bank system faces severe difficulties in securing and providing suitable blood and transporting it, which endangers the lives of many patients and injured individuals. The Nasser Medical Complex has warned that if fuel shortages persist, leading to power outages, all available blood units, which must be stored at temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius, will have to be destroyed. This has led to a severe shortage of blood supplies, prompting the complex to issue an urgent appeal for citizens to donate blood in an attempt to bridge the emergency gap and save lives.
Despite the challenges, the Central Blood Bank Association successfully organized 22 blood donation campaigns in shelters during May and June, collecting 807 units of blood, which were delivered to Nasser, Martyrs of Al-Aqsa, Shifa, and the Ahli hospitals. The association confirmed that this quantity is insufficient and explained that the deterioration in citizens' health due to famine, malnutrition, and repeated displacement impedes continuous blood collection.
In light of these significant challenges, the health sector in the Palestinian NGOs Network calls for intensified efforts to support the blood bank system in Gaza, providing essential supplies and medical equipment, and ensuring the necessary fuel for its operation to guarantee proper blood transport and storage according to standards, and to provide emergency healthcare. The health sector also calls for sending safe blood units according to the appropriate standards amidst the famine situation in Gaza and organizing large-scale donation campaigns to ensure the availability of required blood units and save many injured and affected lives. The fact sheet emphasizes that the distress signals from healthcare workers reflect the harsh reality faced by Gaza’s residents and urges everyone to contribute to saving what can be saved to revitalize the health sector in general and blood banks in particular.
Read The Full Papers: Blood Bank in Gaza – Challenges and Services amid the Aggression
