Gangwar, shooting and stabbing are draining the supplies at the country's largest blood bank in Copenhagen

Increases in incidents of shooting and stabbing are draining the supplies at the country's largest blood bank in CopenhagenIntensified street shootings and knife attacks between criminal gangs has severely impacted the country’s largest blood bank. The head of Rigshospitalet’s blood bank is now calling for an influx of donors to replenish the stocks.‘There’s been a steady round of shootings and knife attacks, which is upping the pace at operating tables and the emergency units where both shooting and stabbing victims are brought in,’ said Morten Bagge Hansen.Hansen told Metroxpress newspaper that it wasn’t unusual for patients brought to the hospital trauma centres to receive 100 units of blood in a couple of hours.The Rigshospitalet blood supplies were adequate in the middle of last year, but now are only two-thirds of what they should be. Next week the hospital will call up 400 blood donors in Copenhagen and 200 more in the greater Copenhagen region to replenish the supplies.
‘We have a big task in front of us over the next two week to get our stocks filled up. We’ll try to put the pressure on even more people to donate, even though our personnel are already working hard,’ said Hansen, who indicated that even more blood donor stations would be open than normal.Volunteers can already donate blood at more than 80 locations nationwide, either at a hospital or through a local mobile clinic. New rules introduced at the start of this year increased the age range for blood donation to between 17 and 67.The National blood donor association said it support the extraordinary blood collection drive and said the effort has not been made any easier by under-pressure medical staff and regular donors who have been hit by the current strain of influenza.More than 380,000 blood donations take place annually and approximately 238,000 Danes are registered blood-donors.