How You Can Help

Give Blood

Are you planning on visiting Israel? Give a gift of your blood when visiting!

When visiting Israel as an individual or in a group, you can donate blood to MDA Israel.

Who Can Donate Blood? Every healthy human being above 18 and not older than 65 whose weight is above 50 Kg. (110 pounds) [Under 17 must bring parental consent], donations are accepted once every three months.

The Blood Donation Process;

The entire process lasts about 20 minutes. If in Jerusalem , donors may call (02) 6511852; or, in Tel Aviv, call (03) 5300400.

Why we need your blood!

MDA Blood Services

The Israeli National Blood Services is a division of the non-profit organization Magen David Adom (MDA), which is responsible for the collection, processing, testing and distribution of blood units and blood products throughout the country. It includes the central Blood Bank, which was inaugurated in 1987, and the Fractionation plant - inaugurated in 1996.

The Center is located in Tel-Hashomer, (15 minutes drive from Tel-Aviv, and 45 minutes from Jerusalem ), and employs around 120 workers, as laboratory technicians and phlebotomists.

Over 250,000 blood units are collected yearly from non-paid volunteers: 75% of which are collected using MDA Mobil Units in schools, factories, community centers and army camps. The other 25% are collected in fixed donor rooms at MDA first-aid stations located in towns and cities all over Israel.

(FOR ISRAEL RESIDENTS ONLY) All volunteer blood donors are offered the MDA-Blood-Insurance program, which grants further credit of blood for the donor and his/her immediate family members for 1 year following the donation. This credit saves donors from needing to bring "replacement-units" in case they need a transfusion during the 12 months following their blood donation.

Over 90% of the units collected each day are processed into components such as packed red blood cells, fresh frozen plasma, cryoprecipitate and platelets.

All donations are tested for blood type (ABO, Rh) and for the detection of irregular antibodies to red cell antigens. In addition, all units are tested to identify transfusion-transmitted diseases such as Hepatitis B, C, HIV 1/2, HTLV and Syphilis. They are also tested for ALT levels.

Around 240,000 blood units, and another 240,000 units of the different components are supplied to all the hospitals in Israel , upon their request. In addition, some 25,000 liters of surplus plasma are supplied to MDA Plasma Fractionation Center , a modern, high-tech, state-of-the art pharmaceutical plant, for the preparation of albumin, gamma-globulin, factor VIII and other products.

Additional Services at the MDA Blood Center

A Hemapheresis service which collects about 3000 platelet concentrates and plasma units from single donors. This unit is also in charge of performing therapeutic plasma exchanges, either "in- house", or in the different hospitals, using mobile pheresis machines.

The Israeli National Laboratory for Rare Blood Groups

This is a reference laboratory which supports the hospitals' blood-banks, trying to solve and diagnose cases of patients with unidentified or rare blood subtypes, and to provide them with blood units from the frozen-unit's inventory. The Reference laboratory is used for the further identification and diagnosis of viral liver diseases.

The senior staff of the Blood Services is involved in the following activities:

MDA Blood Services research and development laboratories are involved in projects such as the implementation of novel methods for the use of blood products as future therapeutic means, and in the development of new and safer systems for the collection of blood samples from the donors.

Thank you for your Blood Donation!

CONTACT INFORMATION
Do not hesitate to contact us for more information.

Give blood... Give life!