FLASH
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A few hours after the militants of the Palestinian group Hamas carried out attacks in the south of Israel, on October 7, a new underground blood bank was put to work. The workers took the equipment to an underground bunker and started saving lives.
The Marcus Blood Services Center in Ramla, near Tel Aviv, was scheduled to open within days, but when more than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel by Hamas attacks, plans have changed.
"It has become very clear that we must act according to the war plan, because that was the moment," said doctor Eilat Shinar, director of the Magen David Adom division - the Israeli service for medical emergencies, illnesses and ambulances.
Built 15 meters underground, this €135 million center is shielded from missiles, chemical attacks and earthquakes to ensure blood will be ready when it is most needed.
Shiner said the center donated tens of thousands of doses of blood in the first days after the Hamas attacks.
"We worked hard to supply blood to everyone who needed it. We had many wounded and we had to treat them".
The previous blood bank, which was built in the 1980s, did not have the capacity to meet the needs in times of war and was exposed - although not damaged - in previous conflicts, the center said.
After Israel's third war against Hamas, in 2014, when rockets reached Tel Aviv and other major cities, discussions began about the need to create a more secure center.
The new center has the capacity to store almost twice the amount of blood of the previous center – half a million doses compared to 270,000 – and has processed more blood than has ever been stored in Israeli reserves.
"We realized that once the missiles are launched very close to the center, any other part can be targeted," said Moshe Noyovich, project engineer and Israel representative for the American Friends of Magen David Adom, which originally funded the center.
In the past, each time rockets have been launched toward Israel, the team has moved the equipment into the bunker to continue working. Now they work without hindrance, he said. The new 51,000 square meter center processes all donated blood in Israel.
It has the transportation center, a molecular laboratory, an air filtration system that allows staff to work even in the event of a chemical or biological war, and a 300 square meter safe room that protects against the most dangerous missile threats. .
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in Gaza. Hamas, the Islamist militant group, has called for the destruction of Israel.
As the Israeli army advances deeper into the Gaza Strip, the center is preparing for an increase in the number of victims who may need transfusions.
Since the start of the war, thousands of people have waited hours in line to donate blood. In early October, the center received 5,000 blood transfusions a day — five times more than usual, staff members said.
The ideal blood donors are those with type O, which can be donated to all people with other blood types. Once donated, the blood is transferred to hospitals and given to the Israeli army to treat wounded soldiers on the battlefield.
"During the war, blood is part of the resuscitation process and the idea is to have reserves, to be able to donate blood as soon as it is required," said Guillemette Thomas, from the international organization Doctors Without Borders./ REL
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