Cleveland Clinic delays procedures amid a national blood shortage

Hospitals across the country are having to make adjustments because of the ongoing blood shortage, made worse because of the pandemic, and Northeast Ohio is no exception.

The Cleveland Clinicsays it has asked patients to delay certain procedures because of the low supply. Dr. NurJehan Quriashy says the Clinic is managing the inventory it has.

“We call it triaging. They may call the floor and say, 'Can you wait until our next shipment arrives?' But we haven’t really at this point had to refuse any blood product. There might be a delay, but we have managed,” Quriashy said.

She says the Clinic says has a lower supply of cells that come from blood drives, like platelets, which are important for clotting.

The American Red Cross has seen a significant drop in donations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent winter storms have added to the problem. The Red Cross says it will take months of regular donations to work its way out of the shortage.

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