TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's blood reserves constantly falls short of the annual required amount, according to Central Blood Donor Unit of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI).
"Every year we need about 4.8 million blood bags, but every year we haven't been able to meet the demand," said Dr Ulfa Suryani, the head of blood supplies from PMI's Central Blood Donor Unit in Jakarta on Thursday.
Ulfa said that the average demand for blood in Indonesia reaches 15,000 bags per day, and that A-type blood is in short supply.
PMI receives around 2.5 million blood bags from throughout Indonesia every year. According to PMI statistics, the shortage could end if two percent of all Indonesians would donate - currently, around one percent of Indonesians regularly donate blood to PMI.
"The shortage is at its' most severe outside of Java, especially in Eastern and Central Indonesia. PMI can still meet demands within Java," said Eva, who is also the PMI's Central Blood Donor Unit's head of public relations.
"We genuinely hope that Indonesians - especially young Indonesians - would make blood donations a part of their lifestyle," said Eva.
ANTARANEWS