MDA israel

World Blood Donor Day is marked annually on 14th of June in order to raise awareness of the importance of donating blood. The date chosen is the birthday of Dr. Karl Landsteiner, an Austrian biologist and doctor who discovered blood groupings in the year 1900. This discovery allows for blood donation and transfusion. 

MDA Blood Services collected 266,842 units of blood that saved the lives of some 800,000 people. 68.8% of the units were donated by men, and 31.2% by women. IDF soldiers donated a quarter of the total! First time donors made up 20.2% of the total, an 11% rise on last year. The top five cities for donations were Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Petach Tikva and Be'er Sheva. 

MDA Deputy Director General of Blood Services, Prof. Eilat Shinar told of the need for MDA to collect 1,000 units per day in order to ensure Israel has a constant supply of blood, and increasing the overall capacity. "We recently dedicated the new MDA Marcus National Blood Services Center in Ramla. This is the first blood bank of its kind in the world, built underground and protected against both conventional and non-conventional threats. The building will hold world-leading, new and technologically advanced equipment, and will allow for processing half a million units per year. MDA's Blood Services thank the blood donors for their life-saving donations." 

MDA Director General Eli Bin: "In many cases, the blood units that arrive from a donor's arm, through MDA's Blood Services, is a life-saving component in the treatment of a critical patient. Thanks to the hundreds of thousand of donors each year, we make this mission possible and help patients across the country. We thanks the citizens of Israel who come to help time after time, voluntarily donating their blood for the benefit of the residents of Israel."