Dubai's blood work revealed: Daily need

More than 150 units of blood are used from blood banks in the emirate daily, according to the Dubai Blood Donation Centre (DBDC) of the Dubai Health Authority.

Speaking to Emirates 24|7, Dr Laila Al Shaer, Director of DBDC said that on average, about 250 units of blood are collected throughout the country.

She added that in Dubai, they have a list of different categories which need blood in the emirate, and at the top of this list are thalassemia patients, who consume about 80 units of blood on daily basis.

“The second most important category which needs blood are road accident and burn victims, who need about 30 units of blood every day.
“This is mainly requested from the Trauma Centre at Rashid Hospital as it is the main centre for the emirate of Dubai,” she said.

Dr Al Shaer explained that they also supply units of blood for the birth bleedings for both normal and caesarian sections deliveries. “For these, we normally supply hospital between 20 to 30 units of blood every day.”

She pointed out that Dubai Hospital is another important hospital which uses bloods from DBDC.
“They mainly use it for the cases which are diagnosed with cancer, or cases which are scheduled for open heart surgeries and all other surgeries. For this, we supply Dubai Hospital with about 10 units of blood.”

Dr Al Shaer pointed out that the DBDC supplies all Dubai hospitals, both public and private, with blood whenever they needed.
“We receive both full blood donations as well as blood platelets for different cases,” she explained.

According to Dr Al Shaer, the most common blood group is O+ and it makes a total of 35 per cent of the total blood donations, followed by group B, then A, and the rarest blood group is AB makes only five per cent of the total blood donations.

“At the centre, all units of blood have expiry dates - which is about 35 to 40 days after the blood is collected. Once the blood unit is expired, we send it to a specialised department in biological waste to dispose it,” explained Dr Al Shaer.

She urged public to take blood donation seriously, and to make it a routine practice in their lives.

“People should consider donating their blood at least once every three months.  You don’t know when you are going to save someone’s life by donating your blood.”

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