Limburg is short of thousands of blood donors. At the moment there are 20,000 people in our province who regularly give blood, but the Sanquin blood bank says that about 26,000 donors are needed.
The need is greatest in Venlo, Heerlen and Maastricht.
Medicines
Donors are needed to maintain the blood supply and to make up for shortages. Also, more plasma is needed that is used for medicines. The demand for such drugs has increased in recent times as they are used for more and more conditions.
Corona
According to blood bank Sanquin, the corona crisis is one of the reasons that the rinse has become thinner. A number of regular donors dropped out, others gave blood less often. Now that the crisis is over, the blood bank wants to recruit new donors again.
One in four people will need donor blood at some point in their life. At present, approximately 3 percent of the Dutch population is a blood donor themselves.