KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The need for people to donate blood is everywhere, including in Kansas City.
Because of COVID-19, thousands and thousands of blood drives were canceled.
Hospitals rely on blood donates to take care of patients.
41 Action News spoke with Saint Luke’s Transfusion Services Medical Director Dr. Gagan Mathur about this topic.
He said when they stopped elective surgeries, this helped with their blood supply. The demand of blood went down and they did not see any critical shortages.
But, there could be a problem facing hospitals in the coming future.
"But, the elective surgery volumes are going up and the collection on the donor side is still catching up. So the blood supply is low but we have not seen any critical shortages yet. But, the collections are going down," said Dr. Mathur.
If the blood supply does go further down, the next step would be to cut down on elective surgeries. This way; places like emergency rooms and patients that need blood transfusions have the necessary blood.
St. Luke's on the Country Club Plaza will have a blood drive on Tuesday.
Click here to find a blood drive from the Community Blood Center.
Click here to find a blood drive from the American Red Cross.
