What are the ramifications of blood shortages?
Blood shortages can cause: 1. Treatment delays for patients. With a limited blood supply, the least critical surgeries are at risk of being canceled, since blood must be allocated to acute needs first. 2. Economic strain on blood collection centers. To help ensure an adequate blood supply, blood banks that cannot meet the demand in their region are compelled to import blood from other regions that have a surplus. Ironically, the funds used to purchase blood are often dollars reallocated from donor recruitment leading to a classic “catch-22”, since a broader donor pool would decrease or eliminate the need to import blood. Importing blood is costly and strains a blood bank’s limited budget. This is a serious problem because blood banks are typically community-based, not-for-profit organizations with limited resources.
