Blood needed urgently on Balearics

THE Balearic Blood and Tissue Bank Foundation has asked for urgent donations of blood types O-, A- and AB-.

They warn that supply is low for negative blood types, which are the rarest. Patients with RH negative blood types can only receive transfusions of their own blood type.

Around 200 blood donations per day are required to cover the needs of the Islands.

Donations take around 30 minutes and can be received from anyone healthy aged between 18 and 65 weighing more than 50 kilos.

However, anyone who lived in the UK for more than a year between 1980 and 1996 will probably not be able to become a donor because of the increased risk of transmitting Creutzfeldt Jacob or ‘mad cow’ disease to recipients. This is mainly a precautionary measure as it has not been proved for sure that the disease can be transmitted by blood transfusions.