Blood donors are desperately needed as two unpredicted cases have left King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) stock severely depleted.

The Donor Centre on the first floor at the KEMH will be open today until 4 p.m. and tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Anyone wishing to make an appointment can call 236 5067.

In particular, the Centre is looking for people with O-positive or O-negative blood types, but Betsie Lombard, medical director of the hospital’s blood transfusion service, said they were happy to have any.

She said the Centre tries to keep the stocks full with 30 to 40 units, but it is currently down to about 19 units. With the weekend coming, she is concerned they would be able to handle one accident, but no more than that.

“We have certain stock numbers that we keep so if anything happens we can cover it. Going into the weekend, we can handle one, but not more than one accident,” she said.

“At least before the weekend we want to make sure we have our normal numbers. If we could get at least 30 that would be great, but we would appreciate as many as we can get.”

For the full story see tomorrow’s The Royal Gazette.