Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) Chairman Abrar ul Haq on Monday appealed to the people to come forward and donate blood to help save lives amid serious shortage of blood due to ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. In a statement, the PRCS chairman said over 16,000 people have lost lives to Covid-19 in the country, however hundreds of thousands more are at risk due to blood shortage. He said lives of patients suffering from leukemia, thalassemia, hemophilia, anemia or those undergoing critical surgeries or having been injured in road accidents depend on timely and adequate supply of blood. Abrar ul Haq said the pandemic has brought voluntary blood donations to a virtual standstill, adding that the closure of educational institutions, which have been a major source of blood collection, has also severely impacted the blood donations. He said the PRCS Regional Blood Donor Centre (RBDC) housed at the National Headquarters in Islamabad would usually collect 500-1000 donations in any given month, which have now fallen to around few dozen units only. He said around 90% of PRCS blood supply has been threatened by cancelation of community blood drives due to Covid-19 pandemic. “Estimates suggest that only 28 out of 10,000 people donate blood in Pakistan. Out of these, only 11 percent of donations are by people who don’t have a friend or family in immediate need,” he further said, referring to little inclination among people in Pakistan towards voluntarily donating blood. The PRCS chairman said majority of blood donors fears that they might contract coronavirus during the blood transfusion process. He said adequate safety precautions are observed at the PRCS RBDC as well as mobile blood collection camps and chances of anyone contacting coronavirus during the transfusion process are equal to zero. He also called for a robust awareness campaign to ward off people’s concerns in this regard. Abrar ul Haq said the PRCS has developed short-, medium- and long-term strategies to further increase its blood collection capacity and outreach to meet the growing demand in the country. He said it is time for urgent interventions to ensure uninterrupted supply of blood, especially for those whose life depends on regular blood transfusions.