The president of the federation, Alberto Mota, told Lusa news agency that the levels of blood reserves were “far below the recommended levels”, a situation which has not occurred at this time of the year to this extent for many years, especially in the A and O blood groups.
“We need to increase the donations of these blood groups. We appeal to healthy people, who are between 18 and 65 years old and over 50 kilos to conisder giving this girt. We need to quickly restore reserves,” he said.
Alberto Mota said that every year there is a decrease in blood donations at the end of the year, largely due to the festive period of Christmas and New Year and due to typical winter illnesses.
The Portuguese Institute of Blood and Transplantation (IPST) has already called for the reinforcement of blood donations, in particular for groups A and O, which are the ones with the lowest levels” and below the recommended levels, a situation that has not yet been overcome”.
Most Portuguese have blood groups A and O and this is why these two blood groups are in highest demand.