Journal of Blood Medicine (Apr 2023)
Military Blood Service in Poland
Abstract
Tomasz Kryczka,1,* Anna Jedynak,2,3,* Adam Olszewski,3,4 Lidia Sierpinska,5 Paula Kuzniarska,6 Dorota Sulejczak7 1Department of Development of Nursing and Social & Medical Sciences, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland; 2Department of Military Medical Service, Ministry of National Defence of Poland, Warsaw, Poland; 3Military Center of Blood Donation and Haemotherapy, Warsaw, Poland; 4Garrison Medical Outpatient Clinic, Modlin, Poland; 5Independent Public Health Care Unit, Military Teaching Hospital with Polyclinic, Lublin, Poland; 6Military Center of Blood Donation and Haemotherapy, Gdansk, Poland; 7Department of Experimental Pharmacology, Mossakowski Medical Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Tomasz Kryczka, Medical University of Warsaw, Department of Development of Nursing and Social & Medical Sciences, ul. Ciołka 27, Warsaw, 01-445, Poland, Tel +48 604315103, Email [email protected]: On 24 February 2022, the Russia–Ukraine military conflict unfolded just across the eastern border of the European Union. It made everyone realize how important it is to secure blood supplies to health-care units in the event of an armed conflict. This paper presents the principles of functioning of the Military Blood Donation Service and the Military Center for Blood Donation and Hemotherapy in Poland.Methods: The study used data collected in the “Military Blood Bank” information processing system and data from annual reports (2010– 2021) sent to the Minister of Health of the Republic of Poland. The reports concerned, among others: demographic data on donors, reasons of permanent disqualifications, numbers of complete and incomplete donations, etc.Results: Since 2005, the number of donors registered in military blood donation centers ranged between 15 and 35 thousand/year. The most dramatic declines in donors were observed in 2010 and 2020. Successful donations accounted for more than 98% of all donations/year (except 2015), and their number varied between 20 and 32 thousand/year. Among the blood donors, men always predominated and the dominant age group (except for 2010) was 25– 44 years. The reasons for permanent disqualification have varied over time: their proportions decreased for viral hepatitis and cardiovascular disease, and increased for respiratory and endocrine/metabolic diseases. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020/2021, these proportions have sometimes been reversed.Discussion: The Military Blood Donation Service has been functioning in Poland for several decades. It is specialized in supplying blood and blood products to the Armed Forces. Unfortunately, it was not possible to refer to the functioning of similar institutions in other countries. Therefore, when evaluating the functioning of Polish military blood donation, we had to rely on numerical values (eg, number of donors/year, donor profile, etc.), which prove a very good organization of blood donation centers. However, it should be noted that, as in other countries, a more active promotion of blood donation in the media is advisable in order to encourage as many young people as possible to donate blood.Keywords: blood donors, blood donation, military blood donation
