The Costa Rica Social Security Authority (C.C.S.S.) raised the alert of low reserves of blood to care for hospitalized patients.

According to CCSS the blood donation has decreased considerably since November of 2016, going from 550 donors a month to only 320, which has caused at times the suspension of surgeries due to low reserves of blood.

The Social Security is calling on the population to go to the closest hospital and donate, their goal is to get enough blood reserves to handle the needs of the next six months.

“One donor can help four people; we extract 400-500 ML of blood, which represents only a 10% of the total blood that is carried through our system; this is recovered within 24 hours with the consumption of liquids”, explained the press release.

The different components of blood, (red blood cells, plasma, platelets, and coagulation factors) are vital for the treatment of different illnesses such as leukemia, having enough reserves of blood is also necessary for surgeries and emergencies.

To be a candidate, donors have to be at least 18 years-old and not more than 65 years, weigh more than 50 kilograms and have good overall health. Before donating it is important that volunteers eat a light breakfast.

There are over 14 blood banks in the country distributed in the seven provinces, San José has 5 of them; each blood bank has a different schedule but usually open Monday through Thursday from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Fridays from 6 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.