Friday, January 28, 2005

Blood bank needs to shore up platelet supplies

KUALA LUMPUR: The blood supply at the National Blood Centre will dry up if blood donations stop for just two days.
It is, therefore, urgently appealing to the public to donate more blood.
Platelets is a component of human blood needed to stop internal and external bleeding. As of yesterday, there were 398 units of platelets stored at the centre.
“We usually maintain a supply of at least 400 units of platelets daily but with dengue cases going up, we would prefer to play it safe,” its deputy-director Dr Norhanim Asidin said yesterday.
“They are required to stop internal bleeding in dengue victims, but the cells only live for five days,” she said yesterday .

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