Blood stocks fall to “dramatically low” level

Swiss hospitals are suffering a serious shortage of blood, the Red Cross blood transfusion service has warned.

Stocks are at a dramatically low level following the holiday season at the end of the year and the recent outbreak of flu.

Speaking on national radio, the transfusion service’s Rudolf Schwabe said that only 5,000 bags of blood were currently in stock, when double that number are required. The current reserves are enough to last only four days, a situation that has not been seen for many years.

If supplies do not improve between now and the end of the week, a national campaign calling for blood donations will be launched on Monday.

The main causes for the drop in blood supplies are increased demand from hospitals, the way public holidays fell over Christmas and New Year, and the beginning of a flu epidemic which affects the number of donors.