“Accident Victim – needs surgery,” one post from this week reads, calling for O- blood for a young man. She added that the next step is to encourage more foreigners to come forward to give blood.īut until shortages are lessened, Facebook groups set up to help match patients with donors will continue to be a life-saving tool. “This is a big change, because the preponderance of our expat population is from the UK, France and Ireland,” said Ms Rower. The Thai Red Cross, which operates most of the country’s blood banks, now accepts packed red blood cells – though not yet blood plasma – at some hospitals in Bangkok. At the end of February, Thailand became one of the first countries in Asia to also change its policy.
“In this case one of the problems we faced is that Lucca is from France, and the majority of his connections were French, and they were being rejected having lived in France,” Ms Rower said.Īt that time French, Irish and English nationals were banned from donating due to concerns that their blood may still contain traces of ‘mad cow disease’, following various outbreaks between 19.īut last year, the United States lifted restrictions on donations and many countries have since followed suit. She was also one of those who gave blood to help save Mr Luccatio’s life. “Two weeks for ten units, and that was consistent advocacy,” said Nancy Rower, a member of the ‘Thailand RH- Blood Donation’ Facebook group and advocacy network, which helps find potential donors for patients in need. It took two weeks, but the 10 units Lucca needed were eventually found, from 10 donors. Instead, his family and friends launched an around-the-clock campaign to find donors – asking acquaintances what their blood type was, pleading for potential donors on Facebook groups, and even going to expat hotspots to ask people directly. “I thought, what am I going to do? Just sit here and die? But the people around me said, ‘that’s never going to happen’.” “It turned out to be a very complicated case,” the French national told a recent panel event. It should never have been a potentially fatal scenario, yet the Bangkok doctors were not optimistic – they did not have enough O- blood supplies to replenish the amount Lucca was losing. “I should be dead,” said Lucca*, who was rushed to hospital last summer with internal bleeding while recovering from a surgery to remove a stomach ulcer. “There’s always a threat when people need this blood, that we don’t have it.”Īnd the risk – which exists in countries across the region, including in Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia – is not just a theoretical one. “There is an adequate supply of blood for use in the medical system – but this does not apply to Rh negative blood,” said Dr Issrang Nuchprayoon, a professor at Chulalongkorn University and adviser to the Thai Red Cross. This means that for expats, tourists and the tiny minority of Thai people affected, a minor motorbike accident (not uncommon among British backpackers) or simple surgery can swiftly shift into a life-threatening crisis.
The shortage of donors has translated into “concerning” shortages in blood banks. Like much of southeast Asia, only around 0.3 per cent of the population here have Rh negative blood (A-, B-, O- or AB-), compared to roughly 15 per cent in the UK and Europe. The cases, at first glance, have little in common: a Thai woman preparing for a caesarean a Spanish tourist who’s pneumonia turned septic a newborn baby on life support.īut the trio all have Rh negative blood types – and in Thailand, that can be a death sentence.
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