The Irish Blood Transfusion Service is urgently looking for regular donors to give blood, especially donors with the blood group O-, A- and B-.
A recent request made by the service for more donations is not yielding enough donations to sustain the blood supply over the Christmas period.
Barry Doyle, the Acting Operations Director of the IBTS, said: "High levels of COVID-19 in the population is impacting on donor availability, resulting in high numbers of cancellations and the IBTS is urgently asking healthy donors to respond to when they receive a text from us"
Extra clinics have been arranged over the Christmas/New Year period on Sunday 19th December, Friday 24th and Friday 31st December. The IBTS are also arranging clinics on the public holidays the 28th December and Monday January 3rd.
Mr Doyle continued: "A pre-amber alert has been issued in line with the national blood shortage plan, which requests conservative use of blood, and donations are needed to avoid the cancellation of elective surgeries requiring blood support.
"Donor appointments are booked entirely on the phone with donors being pre-screened before an appointment is made for them to attend the donation clinic, to ensure the safety of our donors and staff.
"We are asking our regular donors to book an appointment when they receive a text from us, especially the O-, A- and B- donors. Further clinic information can also be found on www.giveblood.ie,” he added.
