The blood bank at Arar's Central Hospital was taken by surprise on Tuesday as some 80 people turned up offering to donate type A+ blood in response to an “emergency request” they received by SMS text message. The unusual number of donors was welcomed by slightly perplexed staff who were informed that the message had appealed for “urgent blood donations of type A+”, but the hospital made clear that it itself was not the source of the appeal. “If there is an urgent need for blood of a rare type the regulatory procedures are followed,” said hospital chief Hamoud Al-Masoud. “Sending messages to play on people's emotions is ethically unacceptable.” Despite the indignation of the four-score blood donors upon hearing that the text messages had as their source no official body, they still expressed their pleasure at being able to “respond to the calls for humanitarian assistance.” The origin of the text appeal remains unknown.
