Malaysia’s ‘s blood banks are always at risk of running low, which could have dire consequences on patients in critical condition.

The National Blood Centre’s medical officer, Dr Siti Nur Fazzilah, said blood stock for every blood group should be maintained at a specific safety level.

“The National Blood Centre regularly conducts blood donation campaigns to ensure our blood bank stock, especially for blood types A and B, are maintained at safety levels,” she said.

Nur Fazzilah was speaking at a blood donation campaign, organised in collaboration with Media Prima Berhad (MPB) and The New Straits Times Press.
“This is our ninth blood donation campaign here and we are targeting to get at least 60 blood bags today” she said.

She also commented on Health director-general, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah’s statement on May 20 that the country’s blood bank stock has dropped by 40 per cent.

“During the Movement Control Order (MCO), our blood bank stock dropped because we were unable to conduct blood donation campaigns, and the public also avoided coming to our blood banks to donate blood.

“But, we were able to restock our blood banks during this Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) period,” Nur Fazzilah said.
The campaign received a very encouraging response from Media Prima employees.