Four operations in Santa Maria postponed due to lack of ‘specific blood units’

The president of the local health unit of Santa Maria (ULS) said four operations had to be postponed due to a shortage of type A and O blood, saying “continuous measures” were being taken to increase the harvest.

“We had a day when four operations were postponed, but we cannot forget that blood is not equal, that is, each patient needs a certain unit of blood, so we are very sorry that on this day four patients needed certain units of blood and we did not have it,” Carlos Martins explained in an interview with Lusa.

The clarification comes after the director of the blood service at the Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte/Hospital de Santa Maria, Alvaro Belesa, told Radio Renascença (RR) last week that the hospital department had been forced to postpone non-urgent operations that had already been performed.

“We had to postpone some planned operations, that is, non-urgent ones, because there was a huge shortage, namely groups A and 0, but group A was the worst. It was a difficult situation,” the doctor told RR.

The President of ULS Santa Maria also announced that blood collection hours at the main entrance of the hospital have been extended until 6:30 p.m.

“If necessary, specialists stay for more or less an hour if they have donors, that is, to allow those who leave work – whether our specialists or other citizens – to go to Santa Maria and donate blood,” he said.

Carlos Martins added that a “set of blood donation actions” is being promoted and that “a campaign will be carried out aimed at the medical centers” of ULS in Santa Maria.

On Tuesday, the Portuguese Federation of Charitable Blood Donors (Fepodabes) warned of the need to increase blood supplies, saying hospitals were “under great pressure” and postponing minor surgeries.

“We already knew that Santa Maria Hospital [em Lisboa] and the Evora hospital, which had very complex blood levels and was already thinking about surgical interventions, because we always need to have a reserve, especially in case of some accidents or specific cases,” said federation president Alberto Mota.

Alberto Mota explained to Lusa that “reserves need to be increased,” saying 2024 would be “a very difficult year when it comes to reserves.”

“This is unusual. Every year we know that in January and February we have a drop in blood donors due to infections, flu and all these situations. This year, by the way, there were really better months, then, from March to today, it is unclear why groups A and 0, whether negative or positive, have decreased, and it is impossible to increase these reserve levels,” he lamented.