Armenia not provided with sufficient amount of blood components

14,000 cases of blood donorship (0.3% of the population) were recorded in Armenia this year, Director of the Center of Hematology of the RA Ministry of Health Smbat Daghbashian announced at a meeting with journalists today.

He said that according to data of the World Health Organization, 2-4% of the population should be involved as blood donors so that the country could be considered as provided with a sufficient amount of blood components, but the indices in Armenia are low: there were 14,000 donors instead of 60,000 ones.

In the Soviet time there was a mandatory-voluntary institute of blood donorship, which ceased to exist after Armenia's independence. «38% of the population is blood donors in developed countries. Residents are well-supplied with blood components; » S. Daghbashian noted.

In Armenia, most blood donors are young people, but the Church, the Red Cross, and NGOs should also be involved and spread propaganda.

According to the speaker, in many cases doctors become blood doctors. «One doctor has donated his blood 60 times».