In May, "with the 4 public holidays and bridges, more than 25,000 blood bags will not be collected by the EFS teams. However, during this period, patients continue to need blood products to be treated," EFS said in a statement.
And the shelf life of blood products is limited: 7 days for platelets, 42 days for red blood cells.
Some 10,000 donations are needed every day to treat patients, for whom transfusions are essential, according to the facility.
"For several weeks, blood supplies remain globally stable but the pockets of a blood group are decreasing sharply: group O, and in particular O rhesus negative," said the EFS.
Group O- donors (so-called "universal donors"), who represent only 6% of the population, have red blood cells that can be transfused to all patients, regardless of their blood type. They can only be transfused with blood cells of their own blood type.
A list of blood collection points can be found on the dondesang.efs.sante.fr website or on the Blood Donation app.
© 2023 AFP