Blood donations dry up because of Covid fears: survey
A survey suggests the pandemic has deterred Hongkongers from donating blood, with a 60 percent drop in donations. The Hong Kong Society of Clinical Blood Management surveyed about 450 people in July and just over 60 percent said they had donated blood in the past. But around 90 percent of these former donors said they had not given any blood during the fifth wave of the pandemic. A majority said this was because they were afraid of getting infected with Covid while donating. More than 80 percent of the former donors said they did not resume giving blood even after a wave of infections in the city peaked earlier in the year. Dr Chow Yu-fat, a former president of the society, said some of those surveyed wrongly believed that the demand for donated blood had fallen during the pandemic, because of a reduction in non-emergency medical services. "The blood demand is increasing because of our ageing population, but there's also another important factor. With the advancement of our medical technology and treatment, more and more people can be treated. The usage of blood to maintain the medical treatments will be getting bigger and bigger," he said. Last week, the Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service warned that blood stocks were very low and might not meet the daily demand of the city's hospitals.