AS THE holiday season approaches, blood banks usually lose a lot of supply, but this year South Africa is not facing that crisis.

South African National Blood Services (SANBS) communications manager Vanessa Raju said the country has had an increase in the number of donors coming in to give blood.

"We are doing better than last year, we have no blood shortages this year. People have responded positively," Raju said.

She said they are prepared for the festive season and have put measures in place to meet the demand.

"We have 87 fixed donor centres and 3000 mobile blood drives. We aim to collect 3000 units of blood every day to meet the demand by patients who are in need of blood transfusions," she said.

Raju said type O blood is often in high demand as it is used in emergency response situations and these donors are known as universal donors.

This means O blood can be given to any patient, hence the demand becomes higher.

Blood donors must be between the ages of 16 and 65, weigh more than 50kg and lead a sexually safe lifestyle.

According to Justice Project South Africa there have been 15461 deaths on the roads this year, with 140869 people injured, and the demand for blood increases.

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