Hospital staffers save patient with direct transfusion

By Nam Hyun-woo

A nurse and a staff member at an Incheon-based hospital directly transfused their own blood to save a patient requiring emergency surgery.

According to Na-Eun Hospital, Joung Hae-jun, a nurse at the hospital's urology department, and Jeong Da-eun, a staff member in the psychiatry department, both directly transfused their own blood to a patient who was undergoing laparoscopic surgery on Nov. 24.

According to the hospital, the patient was suspected of having renal cancer, in the left kidney, and required emergency surgery to remove it. However, the hospital was unable to proceed with the surgery due to a shortage of blood, following the decline in blood donations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

To help the patient, Joung and Jeong volunteered to directly transfuse 2 pints (0.95 liters) of their blood for the patient, and the patient is now in recovery after successfully receiving the surgery.

“If my father hadn't been able to undergo the surgery at the time, his health condition could have worsened,” the son of the patient was quoted as saying by the hospital. “I deeply appreciate what the two workers did by donating their blood.”

Joung said that the situation was an emergency but that the patient could not receive the surgery due to a blood shortage. “I felt like the patient was one of my family members, and just wanted to help him get the surgery as soon as possible. We just did what we could do,” she said.

Even though the patient's blood type was A positive, which is one of the most common blood types here, the patient had to rely on a “designated blood donation” ― a donation that is made for a specific patient ― because Korea is now suffering from a nationwide shortage of blood amid the pandemic. As the country's blood inventory declines, more patients are looking for designated blood donations but facing difficulties because the direct transfusion between family members is not preferred, due to risks in immune system responses.

“Let's say we had 10 packs of blood (per day) before COVID-19,” an official at the hospital said. “Since the pandemic began, we have one or two packs, and these days it has become very difficult to secure blood at all.”

The official said that the blood shortage could be attributable to the fact that most blood donors are students who take part in voluntary blood donation programs at their schools, but the fact that classes have been online during the pandemic, and the fear of coronavirus infections among students, have kept students away from schools.

“The blood shortage is directly affecting the lives of many patients who are waiting for major surgery,” Na-Eun Hospital Director Ha Hun-young said. “I also want to express my gratitude to the staff for their decision to donate their blood.”