St Petersburg celebrated the 70th anniversary of the City blood transfusion station

On February 21, the St. Petersburg Blood Transfusion Station celebrated its 70th anniversary. The midday shot of the Naryshkin bastion cannon was given in honor of the anniversary of the medical institution. The volley from the cannon was fired by Tatyana Zasukhina, the chief medical officer of the station, Honored Health Worker of Russia.

The station is one of the ten largest in the country and prepares 23,000 liters of whole blood per year. Tatyana Zasukhina, Chief Physician of the City Blood Transfusion Station of St. Petersburg, in an interview with the Petersburg Diary newspaper, spoke about the importance of donation. She also noted that the medical institution is waiting to move from its historical place to a new modern building, where up to 500 people a day can be received.

“Petersburg has a truly unique donor activity. This is the result of a certain systematic work. We are among a dozen regions where systematic donor support is carried out, in addition to material support to the donor for reimbursement of food, indicated in the federal law "On Donation", in St. Petersburg there are a number of additional payments from the regional budget for city residents. In addition, this is a powerful informational component,” Tatyana Zasukhina explained, chief physician of the City Blood Transfusion Station.

Donations are increasing in the city. According to Tatyana Zasukhina, each of the 18 districts has donor councils that work informally. Interesting lectures are also held for high school students and corporate donation is developed - 350 trips to 150 organizations are made annually. In addition, since 2018, the government award "Honorary Donor of St. Petersburg" has been introduced, which "pleasantly stimulates the youth."

Staff donors are the main driving force, there are about a hundred thousand students in St. Petersburg, they are also important. Many universities have their own blood service coordinators, thanks to which the percentage of renewed donors is quite large. The most active among them are ITMO National Research University, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Emperor Alexander I St. Petersburg State Transport University. Sometimes students leave and there is a slight shortage, however, according to the head physician, thanks to the pandemic, the center is now ready in advance for any force majeure. In 2020, 687 liters of plasma were prepared, in 2021 - 733 liters, and now the stock is 309 liters.

The city leadership decided to include the blood transfusion station in the targeted investment program in 2022, thanks to which a new modern building will be built for the station. The medical facility hopes to be able to move in 2025 or 2026. The station will appear in the so-called "medical quarter" on Oleko Dundicha Street. The key factor influencing the choice of location was the opening of a metro station nearby: this is important for donors.