Head of the Cyprus blood bank Androula Panayiotou on Monday called on the public to donate blood, warning of a difficult period ahead as blood supplies remain limited. 

“We are at borderline levels at the moment,” she said.

Panayiotou said that approximately 350 bottles of blood were required to meet the daily nationwide needs and that while satisfactory quantities were collected over the weekend, indications for the coming days were a cause for concern.

“We need 350 bottles a day. If we start collecting around 190-200, as currently indicated by the planned blood donations, then we will face a serious problem,” she said.

She added that recent quantities were maintained partly due to organised blood donations carried out by the army, however, these have now been completed and that in view of the ongoing summer holidays, organised blood donations in other places were significantly limited.

“Organised groups are not organising blood donations these days, as they know that many people are absent and many workplaces are closed. Thus, we do not have the organised blood donations that usually help us reach 350 bottles per day,” she said.

She called on residents to dedicate time to donate blood, saying that blood donations took no longer than 15minutes and could help save lives.

Blood donations centres operate at the Engomi Health Centre (Tel: 22 809098), Geri Health Centre (Tel: 22 309221), Limassol – Old Hospital (Tel: 25 730277), Larnaca – General Hospital (Tel: 24 800402), Paphos – Blood Donation Centre (Tel: 26 306409), Paralimni, Sotiros 2 (Tel: 99 287584).