“With the winter, the cold and the flu, at this time of year we always have a low blood supply”, said FEPODABES president, Alberto Mota, quoted in a statement, as part of the campaign “GIVE BLOOD – YOUR HELP IS A TRUE PRESENT”.

Alberto Mota highlighted that “blood donation is safe” and that people over 18 years old, over 50 kilograms (kg) and healthy are eligible to donate blood.

“Over the next few days, FEPODABES, in addition to distributing posters and ‘flyers’ [pamphlets, in simple translation], will have the same campaign in several ATMs [multibanco network] with the aim of drawing everyone’s attention to this cause”, the person responsible indicated.

FEPODABES once again reminded us that around a thousand units of blood are needed every day.

“The blood collection process is a quick procedure, taking around 30 minutes, and can help save several people, as a single unit of blood can help up to three lives,” he added.

At the end of October, FEPODABES warned that blood reserves were already just above half of what would be ideal.

“The year 2024 has been a very atypical year when it comes to maintaining blood reserves at satisfactory levels”, revealed Alberto Mota, at the time.

Speaking to Lusa, Aberto Mota explained that a “stable reserve must have around 10 thousand units of blood at the Portuguese Institute of Blood and Transplantation”, which is not the case, being “around 5 thousand, 6 thousand units of blood.”

Some of the consequences of the low blood reserves that the person in charge anticipated for the coming months, and which “already occurred half a dozen months ago”, include the cancellation of some less urgent surgical interventions.

Information on official blood collection locations is available at www.fepodabes.pt and on the portal www.dador.pt.