Organ transplants in Canarian hospitals are at serious risk due to the low levels of donated blood needed for vital transfusions.
The news comes not from the Department of Health but by a trade union representing health sector workers. The co.bas Canarias union says that a lung transplant on Wednesday of this week had to be cancelled at the last minute due to the lack of blood and the region’s Blood Donation Service is under major pressure to satisfy the demand for blood products for the life-saving operations. Ironically, the cancellation occurred on the same day that a press conference was held to celebrate the more than one hundred transplants carried out by teams at the Dr Negrin Hospital in Las Palmas, an internationally-renowned transplant centre.
Co.bas Canarias attributes the problem to organisational changes implemented at the Blood Bank by its last head and which led to 2360 fewer donations in 2024 compared to 2023. It adds that the trend so far this year is “even more concerning”. In a scathing rebuke, it accused the president of the Canaries and the region’s health minister of doing nothing to remedy the situation even though they are aware of the extent of the problem. “They are putting the health of the people of the Canaries at risk” added the statement, stressing that it has been urging steps to be taken since last June when the seriousness of the shortfall in blood supplies was already apparent.
Photo: Gobierno de Canarias
