World Blood Donor Day: Sri Lanka sources 100% of blood requirement from donors; Refrigeration system over 15 years old

COLOMBO (News 1st); Every year, countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day on 14th June.

The slogan for the 2023 World Blood Donor Day campaign is “Give blood, give plasma, share life, share often.”

The date of 14 June is the birthday of Karl Landsteiner (1868–1943), an Austrian biologist and physician, considered to be the “founder” of modern blood transfusion.

Landsteiner discovered the ABO blood groups in 1901, developed the modern system of classification of blood groups, and identified, in 1937, together with Alexander S. Wiener, the Rhesus factor, thus enabling physicians to transfuse blood without endangering a patient’s life.

In Sri Lanka, the annual blood donor requirement is almost 400,000 Units, and 100% of the requirement comes from Sri Lankan donors.

Dr. Lakshman Edirisinghe, the Director of the National Blood Transfusion Service in Sri Lanka, speaking to News 1st said that only 50 countries in the world have managed to meet 100% of the blood requirement from local donors. 

"Sri Lanka is at the top of that list, and we have almost 900,000 people who donate blood each year," he said.

85% of the blood requirement is collected via mobile campaigns.

Dr. Lakshman Edirisinghe told News 1st that the National Blood Transfusion Service has to incur a massive cost to store the blood, as the refrigeration system is old.

"The refrigeration system we have is almost 20 years old. We are maintaining it. However, the cost is very high," he added.