The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday called on the public to donate blood as Taiwan’s blood banks remain low on blood supply for different types throughout the country.
The Taiwan Blood Services Foundation yesterday said that Taipei, Hsinchu City, Taichung and Tainan each only had four days of blood and plasma reserves.
Taipei is short on types A and O blood, Hsinchu is short on types O and AB, Taichung is short on types A and B, and Tainan is short on type A, the foundation said.
Photo courtesy of Changhua Christian Hospital
With medical capacity stretched to the maximum amid a nationwide outbreak of COVID-19, which led to the suspension of all non-urgent or unnecessary medical procedures, the supply of blood remains urgent, it said
Changhua County Christian Hospital chief medical officer Liu Sen-yung (劉森永) said that the blood shortage could be the most severe one the nation has experienced over the past 20 years.
Fresh supplies of types A and B blood are the most urgent, he added.
The hospital would start a blood donation campaign tomorrow, accepting donations in a mobile facility near its main entrance, he said.
Chang Shu-chen (張淑真), head nurse of the hospital’s nursing department, said that people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 should wait 14 days after receiving their last dose before donating blood.
People who regularly take medication should not donate blood, Chang said.
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said that fewer people donate blood amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taiwan aims to have at least a week’s supply of blood and plasma in storage, he said.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS