Officials from Shanghai Blood Administration Office said yesterday the city will face a blood shortage within weeks, as clinical demand is expected to surge by 20 to 30 percent.

Part of the cause of the shortage was the failure of enterprises and universities to fulfil donation quotas.

The current daily storage is about 1,200 liters, while type A and AB levels were lower than ideal amount, officials said.

"About 3,000 people donated 647 liters of blood during the Spring Festival holiday ending on Tuesday, 8.5 percent higher than the previous year," said Song Qi, a blood administration official. "The voluntary donation is in line with the usage during the holiday.

"But there should be a peak of blood demand after the weeklong holiday due to increased out-of-town patients and a number of local surgeries specially scheduled after the festival."

Authorities were encouraging voluntary donation at streetside blood collecting vehicles and centers, saying these donation played an important role in blood collection.

"The cold weather can influence our collection, whereas it is also the cause resulting in rising number of patients with cardiovascular diseases and other diseases requiring treatment and blood transfusion," Song said.

In addition to encouraging more blood donations, authorities were eager to receive more donations of blood platelet, which the city has to import from other provinces every year to meet local demand.

"Though we have improved blood supply in many aspects, there is always a shortage of blood platelet," Song said. "The city should use some 6,000 liters of platelet every year, while we only collected two thirds of that amount," Song said.

(Shanghai Daily February 14, 2008)