Tehran, June 21, IRNA — The Managing Director of Iran’s Blood Transfusion Organization (IBTO) Ali Akbar Pourfathollah said that the main aim of his organization is to provide healthy blood products.

But this can only be achieved when healthy people donate blood regularly, he added.

Blood shortage occurs in the country at certain times of the year, including the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, the English-language paper ˈIran Dailyˈ published Saturday, quoted Pourfathollah as saying recently.

He called on the people to continue donating blood during the Holy month of Ramadan, because large number of patients need blood to survive.

The IBTO chief urged the mass media to help raise the knowledge of people in this respect.

Pourfathollah said 2.06 million people donated blood in the country last year (ended March 20, 2014), noting that about 19.5 percent of Iranian blood donors belong to the age group of 25-30.

He added that the blood donation rate in Iran is 27 per 1,000 people.

“According to the latest report released by World Health Organization, blood donation ratio in countries with high, average and low growth rate is 39, 12 and 4 per 1,000 people respectively,” he said.

The official said regular blood donors and those who donated blood previously constitute 51 percent and 25 percent of the total blood donors in Iran respectively.

“Iranian women comprise only 4.5 percent of total blood donors while the figure for developed countries is 50 percent,” he said, stressing that this should be promoted in the country.

Pourfathollah noted that efforts should be made to promote autologous blood donations in Iran, adding that collecting blood from patients before non-emergency surgeries will help reduce blood consumption in hospitals.

Autologous blood transfusion is the collection of blood from a single patient and re-transfusion back to the same patient when required.

“Iran is the only country among developing countries, which produces plasma-derived medicines,” he said.

“The industry is not only economically viable, but also helps prevent the spread of diseases from one country to another.”

Pourfathollah said 100,000 and 150,000 liters of surplus plasma were supplied by state-run and private plasma donation centers respectively last year and the figures are expected to hit 150,000 and 200,000 liters in the near future.

Millions of people need blood transfusions each year. Some may need blood during surgery while others depend on it after an accident or because they have a disease that requires blood components.

Voluntary blood donation can also help prevent the spread of infectious diseases, because donated blood is tested for different diseases, such as HIV, hepatitis and other blood transmitted diseases. Blood donation makes all of this possible.

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http://irna.ir/en/News/2718819/Social/IBTO_calls_for_blood_donation_in_Ramadan