Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter 
RICHARDS
DR. LUNDIE Richards, director of the National Blood Transfusion Service (Blood Bank), has said that he will be applying a more personal approach to encourage more persons to give blood during next year.
"I am getting tired of the crying. It is a situation that is getting to me. We need people to volunteer," he told The Gleaner yesterday.
Dr. Richards said the new approach was to get 'personal', a one-on-one approach with the different heads of organisations across the country. The Blood Bank head was speaking against the backdrop of a severe blood shortage during last week, where two hospitals were said to be out of blood, and others having units in the single digits.
Dr. Richards recalled that in 2002, he applied this approach and the institution was able to bring the number of units of blood up to 28,000 units. He pointed out that the Blood Bank fell off because he was unable to continue the initiative while doing his other duties. He, however, insisted that this would have to be restarted.
Despite the shortage, the island's hospitals were able to hold their own over the holiday weekend. Contacts made with several of these hospitals yesterday showed that the weekend was not that hectic.
"We have not been really called on to do too much. There were not too many emergencies or elective surgeries," said Dr. Richards. The Kingston Public Hospital reported that there were the regular accidents and gunshot emergency cases but it was relatively "quiet".
The University Hospital of the West Indies also had the same response, with Spanish Town Hospital reporting a high demand for the precious commodity. A spokesperson from the Savanna-la- Mar Hospital in Westmoreland said, "we had no shortage over the weekend."
The Port Antonio Hospital in Portland said the institution had mostly stab wound cases and three motor vehicle accident cases on the weekend.
