Every once in a while emails go around urging blood donors of specific blood types to donate blood to a hospitalized family member. The need for more blood donations especially in specific rare blood types made one Saudi to create a website to link those who are in need of blood with potential donors. Khalaf Al-Judi has been running www.freeblood.com since 2002 after a close friend desperately called asking him if he was B-blood type. Since Judi did not carry that blood type he asked the men around him who were attending a wedding and found one person. Judi took the man to the hospital to donate blood, but the doctors told them that the amount was not sufficient and that they needed two more donors. After going through the Blood Bank files looking for potential donors Judi discovered that the system was outdated. Then Judi went to the police station and found two officers with the correct blood type. “That's when Judi decided to create an up-to-date data base on blood donors, their blood type and their contact numbers so that needy patients could contact them in times of need,” explained Abdurrahman Judi, website manager. The website was initially set up for patients in Taif region and then patients from across the Kingdom started to register as well. “We noticed that people from across the Arab World started to register. Now we have updated the website to become an international database for blood with 16,400 registered and nearly a million visitors,” explained Abdurrahman Judi. Many of those registered are looking for blood transfusion for children who frequently need blood. Despite this, officials claim that there is no blood shortage in Saudi hospitals. “Kingdom is self sufficient in blood,” said Abdullah Al-Darees, Deputy Minister of Health and Assistant for Labratory and Blood Bank of the ministry. “The Kingdom does not face any shortage of blood in any blood type, and we depend highly on local blood donations that are collected through national blood campaigns,” explained the deputy minister during a press conference. Darees said that the Kingdom provides 12,000 free blood units annually to pilgrims. Abdurrahman Al-Judi said he couldn't say whether there was a shortage of blood in the Kingdom but said that there is a shortage of rare blood types in some hospitals. “Sometimes hospitals inform families of patients that they must bring in blood to substitute the blood being transfused,” he said. Currently there are nine blood laboratories around the Kingdom which have 264 registered blood donators. About 26,000 Saudis received medals for donating blood 10 times. __
