DHA urges rare blood type holders to donate

The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is urging residents to donate blood, especially those with rare blood types.

Officials say blood lasts for only 42 days so they always need donors to help replenish the stocks.

People can donate blood every eight weeks, with each donation potentially saving up to three lives. 

Platelets, which can be donated up to 24 times a year, are also important to help cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy or those recovering from surgery and suffer from blood loss.

In 2018, the DHA’s Blood Donation Centre collected 50,456 blood units from 63,735 donors.

Only 0.6 per cent of the UAE population are AB negative, 1.8 per cent are B negative, 2.4 per cent are A negative and 4 per cent are O negative. 

Meanwhile, positive blood types are the most common and are found in 38.6 per cent of the population.