The First Blood Banks

Because of successful improvements in transfusion medicine and high demand for blood, the need to store blood also arose. With this, a proper organization with quality equipment and methods of storing blood was also required. Experts realized that in emergency cases, it was better to have stored blood that could be given at any time. It was much easier to have stored blood than to seek a blood donor for direct blood transfusion each time, which could be time-consuming. The first evidence of storing blood can be found during World War I. After this period, early blood banks emerged in the 1930s. First, it was in the Soviet Union (1932), then in the USA (1935), and Spain (1936) during the civil war, which eventually spread across the world. Early blood banks worked under different circumstances. Some of them explored the possibilities of using cadaveric and placental blood, besides collecting blood from healthy adult blood donors. Today, there are different types of blood banks. Some are affiliated with community blood banks, while others are affiliated with hospitals and are known as hospital blood banks. Across the world, there are also other accredited establishments, such as blood transfusion centers, services, and institutes, that work with great responsibility in order to provide sufficient supplies of safe blood.