MDA shares 'out-of-the-box' COVID blood donation solution

• Author: MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
• Published date: 13 October 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

"We had a major challenge, because most of the working places were closed - schools, yeshivas, all of the places we are usually going to collect blood from 1,000 volunteers a day were closed.

"So we thought out of the box and decided to go to the neighborhoods," she said in an interview at The Jerusalem Post Annual Conference. "People could just go out of their own houses to a mobile blood unit and donate blood."

Watch the Jerusalem Post 10th Annual Conference video

Magen David Adom has been responsible for all of Israel's blood supply, including for the IDF, since 1950. During COVID, many countries experienced a lack of needed blood for transfusions due to lockdowns and social distancing, as well as people being unable to donate because they were infected with coronavirus.

"We did not have to cut the blood supply," Shinar said.

She spoke on a panel with her colleague, Dr. Shafir Botner. He told the Post about a new...