(ANSA) - Rome, January 19 - The flu epidemic is again this
year forcing hospital operations to be put off because of a lack
of blood, the National Blood Centre said Friday.
The blood emergency has hit several regions, the centre said.
It said up to 1,300 blood bags were lacking in some places.
The centre, together with the Higher Health Institute,
suggested to blood-donor association CIVIS that blood donors
should be offered a free flu vaccine.
On the SISTRA bulletin board, on which regions file their
requests, lack of blood has been flagged every day, with a peak
on January 13 when 1,315 bags were requested by Puglia,
Lombardy, Tuscany, Lazio, Campania and Piedmont.
ON January 12 the requests were over 1,000, sources said,
while they fell slightly, to 1,197, on January 14.
Hospital ops delayed by lack of blood (3)
In several Italian regions