Blood bank seeks non-Western donors

Blood bank Sanquin is looking or non-Western donors and will therefore launch a campaign to persuade people with a Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese or Antillean background to become a blood donor, NOS reports.

According to the blood bank, there are currently few people with a non-Western background who donate blood and they are desperately needed. People of Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese and Antillean descent often have a different blood type than people with a Western background, according to NOS.

To be able to safely give blood to all those who need it, the blood bank therefore needs more donors with non-Western backgrounds. "The number of patients with this origin is proportionally just as large as the number of Western patients", a spokesperson said to the broadcaster.