Life-saving sacrifice: A nurse drawing blood from donors at Penang Hospital in George Town. — ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: The country is running low on blood supply, especially the rare negative blood type.
According to Penang Hospital, negative blood types are found in only about 5% of the donors in Penang, and in Malaysia as a whole.
Due to its rarity, shortages are not uncommon, particularly for B-negative blood, according to Penang Hospital Transfusion Medicine Specialist Dr Anizah Arshad.
She said about 40% of Penang’s population has type O blood, followed by 30% with type A, 20% with type B, and 10% with type AB blood.
Out of those, she explained that about 95% are positive with the rhesus antigen and only 5% carry the negative type.
“Those with the B negative blood type make up just 2% (34,800 people, based on Penang’s official population of 1.74 million).
“The hospital aims to collect between 2,500 to 3,000 bags of blood from donors each month.
“But, there are days when our blood bank does not receive a single bag of B negative blood,” she said.
Dr Anizah said donated blood is separated into three components: red blood cells, platelets and plasma.
She said that although plasma can be kept frozen for over two years, red cells have a shelf life of between 35 and 42 days and platelets can only be stored for five days.
A recent surge in demand for B negative blood prompted the hospital to appeal for more donors.
While current supplies remain sufficient, there was a temporary strain due to increased surgeries and accident cases requiring transfusions, said Dr Anizah.
“We noticed a drop in donations during the Ramadan month, which added to the challenge.
“Fortunately, negative blood types are ‘on-demand’ as we maintain a database of negative blood type donors, and many stepped forward after we reached out to them.
“On average, the hospital receives donations from at least 10 donors for negative blood types each month, or from about half of those contacted for donations,” she said.
Dr Anizah said while public awareness has improved thanks to promotional campaigns and blood donation drives, there is still a need to get more donations, particularly among younger donors.
“We need more participation from individuals under 30 years old.
“Most of our current donors belong to the older age group.
“Younger donors tend to be healthier and can contribute more frequently,” she said.
Negative blood types are particularly valuable because they are not common.
With less than 2% (one in 50 donors) of the population having B negative blood type, it is among the rarest blood types.
B-negative blood can be given to individuals with B positive, B negative, AB positive, and AB negative blood types.
However, B negative individuals can only receive blood from B negative or O negative donors.
O negative blood, also known as the “universal donor” type, is in great demand as it can be used in emergency transfusions for patients of any blood groups.
