An adequate supply of blood to cater for the victim of a shooting in Valletta on Tuesday was available but a crisis situation could have developed had there been another accident that day.
An urgent appeal by the Blood Bank following the accident drew in a surge of donors, trebling the daily number and resulting in the collection of 100 bags in 24 hours.
About 150 donors turned up at the centre in Guardamangia on Tuesday as opposed to the usual 50 it welcomed on a good day, said Tony Micallef, responsible for media and PR of the National Blood Transfusion Services.
While a shortage of O positive blood for the victim was ruled out, the NBTS wanted to avoid a crisis, which would have resulted from just one more accident, Mr Micallef said.
The problem is that the amount of blood a patient could need to control a haemorrhage cannot be calculated beforehand because patients in emergency cases such as the shooting would have blood continually pumped into them.
“One can never allow for the entire pool to be used up,” Mr Micallef said.
Three weeks ago, he said, two patients required 80 blood bags between them, equivalent to about 50 per cent of stocks for one particular group. Fortunately, they needed A positive blood, which is compatible with other blood types, Mr Micallef explained, pointing out it was still considered a crisis because, at the time, stocks amounted to just over 100 bags, leaving no more than 30.
Tuesday’s situation was made more critical because the victim’s group was O positive, meaning he could only receive that type and O negative. But the latter was reserved for “extreme emergency cases” and O negative patients, who could not receive any other type despite being universal donors.
“We had 164 bags of the O group that morning, so the situation was not that bad. But it is not the first time one patient needed between 40 and 60 bags.
“Even though the stocks were sufficient, there was the risk that certain group O operations and blood transfusions on Wednesday morning would not have been held,” Mr Micallef said.
“The minimum acceptable amount of bags for O negative and A negative blood groups is 20 and 100 for O positive and A positive. Once that number decreases, the alarm bells go off and you start calling for more,” he said.
“The target is 50 blood bags a day. If we do not get them, we know we are soon going to be in trouble,” he said.
Following this week’s “generous” response, the stocks were replenished. But more was always needed as the target was 200 bags for each blood group and not 164, Mr Micallef said, thanking the public for its support to ensure the country retained an acceptable blood reserve.
However, he urged them to continue donating blood of any type to be prepared for any eventuality.
The shooting victim, businessman Joe Baldacchino, remained in a critical condition at Mater Dei Hospital. He underwent emergency surgery after being hit by a bullet in the back near Hastings Garden, in Valletta by a gunman on a stolen motorcycle.