US Faces Acute Blood Shortage In Decade Amid Spread Of Omicron

Bhubaneswar: Even as the United States of America is grappling with fast spreading Omicron virus, it has faced a challenging problem of acute blood shortage, which has led the American Red Cross Society to call for blood donation urgently.

The Red Cross has called the people and donors to donate blood in a ‘Blood Crisis’ on its home page. Alongside the call is a droplet, less than a quarter in red, to demonstrate the shortage.

“The Red Cross is experiencing the worst blood shortage in a decade. The dangerously low blood supply levels have forced some hospitals to defer patients from major surgery, including organ transplants. Your donation is desperately needed,” a report in owsa.in quoted the American Red Cross Society as saying.

American Red Cross declares a first-ever blood crisis amid Omicron surge – OneWorld SouthAsia (owsa.in)

According to the American Red Cross, the blood donation in the country has come down by around 10% since March, 2020, mostly due to 62% drop in donation drives in high schools due to COVID pandemic. Besides the pandemic, other factors that have contributed to drastic fall in blood donation illness, weather-related closures and staffing limitations.

Though blood donation usually comes down in US in January as people go on vacation and the donors are afflicted with flu, this year the crisis has assumed critical proportion, the Red Cross staid adding that it had to limit blood distributions to hospitals due to the shortage. American Red Cross supplies 40% of the country’s blood supply.

Indian Context

The American scenario holds significance in India where the COVID has been spreading very fast in the third wave, apparently triggered by Omicron variant. Considering the situation, the Central government on Wednesday issued and advisory to the states and Union territories to ensure adequate stock of oxygen.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, in a letter to chief secretaries of all states/UTs, has advised to take immediate measures to ensure optimal availability of medical oxygen at health facilities.