First bank for long-term storage of red blood cells created in Ukraine

On 2 March, the first long-term blood storage bank in Ukraine was officially opened in Kyiv, which will allow storing it for up to 30 years. The project "Brave Blood", which was created on the basis of the Kyiv City Blood Center, began to work immediately after the beginning of the full-scale war of russia against Ukraine, because the country has sharply increased the need for high-quality medical care for both wounded soldiers and patients with complex cases.

“In war conditions, the constant provision of donated blood and its components is one of the conditions for ensuring the country's defense capability and ensuring its national security. The opening of the first bank for long term storage of red blood cells is a powerful strengthening of the national blood system of Ukraine, which will allow planning a donation strategy for years in the future,” said Deputy Minister of health of Ukraine, Chief State Sanitary doctor Ihor Kuzin.

Due to the “Brave Blood” project, doctors will be able to save the lives of thousands of patients and military personnel with heavy blood loss or rare blood types. Innovation of the project is in three components: 

• from now on, the country will be able to freeze and store rare blood types, 
• blood can be stored for decades, 
• operational logistics will be possible in the most difficult conditions, for example, to places of military operations to rescue injured military and civilian personnel. 

Every healthy person over the age of 18 and without contraindications can become a donor (for more information, see link).

The project “Brave Blood” was implemented on the basis of the Kyiv City Blood Center at the address: Kyiv, Maksyma Berlynskoho str.,12 in partnership with the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Parimatch Ukraine and the Kyiv City State Administration.