With blood donations on the sister isle still on the decline, the Scarborough General Hospital’s Medical Chief of Staff Dr Victor Wheeler is once again appealing to the public to donate more blood.
Speaking at the Division of Health Wellness and Family Development press conference on Tuesday, Wheeler said there had been an overwhelming response of blood donations after his call for more donors in early November.
But donations have dropped significantly again and the division is running a blood donation campaign until December 31.
He said, “Over the past week we have seen a fall of persons coming to give blood and as a result, the levels are running low again.”
According to Wheeler, Tobago requires approximately 3,000 units of blood annually, but this has dropped by almost 75 per cent as a result of the pandemic.
He said elective surgery stopped on Tuesday and would resume in January 2021.
Wheeler is hoping that donors will come forward so that the shortage doesn’t affect patients who may need blood before they can have surgery.
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