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57
Hospitals are now using and needing much more human blood
than before, and the National Blood Transfusion Service is building
up reserves of blood plasma which can be stored indefinitely in a
dry state for future use. Some idea of the increase in the demand
may be obtained from consideration of the fact that in some
hospitals, where about 80 blood transfusions in a year were given
before the war, these may now be given as many in a week.
In October, 1952, the then Mayor of Leyton (Alderman Mrs.
King, J.P.) issued a local appeal for 1,000 new volunteer blood
donors, especially young people, to ensure the continuity of the
blood tranfusion service.
Donors can be of either sex, but must be between 18 and
65 years of age. After a preliminary medical examination designed
to exclude the possibility of disease in the donor, about two-thirds
of a pint of blood is withdrawn from a vein in the arm. After a rest
of about 20 minutes the donor is again quite fit to carry on as before;
and within about two days the body has made up the amount of
fluid lost.