JAKARTA - A nurse and staff member at a hospital based in Incheon, South Korea directly transfused their own blood to save patients who needed emergency surgery.
According to Na-Eun Hospital, Joung Hae-jun, a nurse at the hospital's Urology Department and Jeong Da-eun, a staff member at the Psychiatry Department, both immediately transfused their own blood to a patient who underwent laparoscopic surgery on November 24.
According to the hospital, the patient is suspected of having cancer in the left kidney, requiring emergency surgery to remove it. However, the hospital was unable to continue operations due to a lack of blood, following a decline in blood donations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
To help the patient, Joung and Jeong voluntarily transfused 0.95 liters of their blood for the patient, and the patient is now recovering after successfully receiving surgery.
"If my father could not have surgery at that time, his health condition could have deteriorated," the patient's son was quoted as saying by the hospital, reported the Korea Times December 1.
"I really appreciate what the two workers did by donating their blood," he continued.
Joung said the situation was an emergency, but the patient was unable to undergo surgery due to lack of blood.
"I feel the patient is one of my family members, and just want to help him undergo surgery as soon as possible. We are just doing what we can do," said Joung.
Even though the patient's blood type is A positive, which is one of the most common blood types in the Ginseng Country, the patient has to rely on the donations of designated donors for a particular patient. This is because the country is suffering from a national shortage of blood in the midst of the pandemic.
The patient was also looking for a direct designated blood donor, although he faced difficulties because direct transfusion between family members was not recommended, due to the risk of an immune system response.
"For example we had 10 packs of blood (per day) before COVID-19. Since the pandemic started, we have had one or two packs, and today it becomes very difficult to secure any blood at all," said a hospital official.
The official said the blood shortage could be due to the fact that most of the blood donors were students taking part in their school's volunteer blood donor program. Meanwhile, during the pandemic, schools are conducted online and students are mostly at home to avoid infection with the corona virus.
"Blood deficiency directly affects the lives of many patients awaiting major surgery," said Ha Hun-young, director of the Na-Eun Hospital.
"I would also like to thank the staff for their decision to donate their blood."
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