Why is there a blood shortage if there are always donation drives and family members are always there willing to provide for their loved ones if ever blood donation is needed?
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>family members are always there willing to provide for their loved ones…
Besides lots of people not having family members (or not enough family members), what if someone is in a car accident and is losing litres of blood. They need a transfusion NOW, like right there in the back of the ambulance, or else they’ll be dead before reaching the hospital. In that case it doesn’t matter how many willing-donor family members the person has – if the ambulance doesn’t have a stock of donated blood already on board, there’s no time for the person’s family to donate fast enough to save them. You might need 10 peoples’ donations worth of blood in the first half hour of treatment. How many people have 10 local family members that could all be reached and arrive at the scene of the accident within that time? I sure don’t. And that’s assuming the victim is even conscious and able to give you those 10 family members’ contact info.
So if I need a 10 unit transfusion and survive, it will be because random strangers donated just in case someone needed it.
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