Inoculation and Blood Research Center in Casablanca has launched a call for blood donation, after Morocco’s blood bank announced a severe shortage of blood reserve in the city.

Mohamed Benajiba, the center’s director said on August 12 that the available blood stock in Casablanca does not exceed five days.

“If the donation stops, it will not be possible to cover the needs of patients in need of blood transitions in need after five days,” said Benajiba.

The center called on Casablanca’s citizens to donate blood to amend for the frightful shortage of blood reserve in the most populated city in Morocco.

Benaajiba has also called on health officials and functionaries to make massive mobilization efforts to raise the number of blood donors, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The blood shortage is due to the low number of donors and the high demand for blood, especially in metropolitan cities, as they are home to several hospitals and medical facilities, said the official.

The center announced that it will open its doors on Monday, August 14 to receive donors starting from 8:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

In late March, the National Center for Inoculation and Blood Research stated that despite the increase of the number of blood donors increasing from 2015 to 2016 (297,700 to 310,860), the country is still in shortage of blood donors, as the current number represents only 0.95 percent of the total population.

This ratio remains below the recommendations of the World Health Organization, which requires at least one percent of the population to donate blood, underlined the center.

If Moroccans rolled up their sleeves and volunteered twice during the past year, the total number of donors would have moved to more than 600,000, meeting the World Health Organizations’ recommendations.

Source: BNA