Canadian Blood Services needs thousands more donors

Canadian Blood Services is making an urgent call for blood and plasma donors this week as thousands of appointments sit unfilled.

Canadian Blood Services is making an urgent call for blood and plasma donors this week as thousands of appointments sit unfilled.

The national organization says it has 150,000 appointments to fill in order to tackle a dwindling inventory of blood and plasma, including many appointments in the Greater Toronto Area.

Simran Dulay, a manager at the Brampton Plasma Donation Centre, says 3,000 plasma donations are needed each week to meet the needs of Canadian patients, but that's been a challenge lately.

He says many regular donors changed their routines during the pandemic, which is part of why more new donors are needed than usual. There is also a global shortage of plasma but a growing need for treatments involving it, says Dulay.