Leipzig University Hospital's blood bank is urgently looking for blood donors

The blood bank at Leipzig University Hospital (UKL) is urgently looking for blood donors. The current wave of colds is making it impossible for many people to donate blood, as the UKL announced on Friday. In addition, the days off around Christmas and New Year have led to even more requests. The stock of life-saving blood products in the Institute of Transfusion Medicine's (ITM) depot has therefore fallen by more than a third in the past two to three weeks.

Blood products are used during operations and provide blood for people with cancer, heart, stomach and intestinal diseases as well as anaemia. The blood is also used in obstetrics to provide mothers and newborns with the best possible care, the report continued. "The situation is now very serious. Until now, we have been able to supply the UKL with blood products independently," said Raymund Buhmann, senior physician at the ITM. If the numbers continue to fall, there is a risk that operations will have to be postponed and, in the worst case, that patients will no longer be able to receive optimal care.