Teresa Jiménez: "Less than 3% of the healthy population of the Balearic Islands donate blood."

PalmTeresa Jiménez is the medical director of the Balearic Islands Blood Bank Foundation, an organization that has been self-sufficient in its supply of blood components for 14 years. This is not without effort, as the percentage of donors in the islands is not high, and therefore the organization is forced to carry out constant campaigns. She works daily to recruit donors and to make the Foundation a benchmark for other blood banks in Spain.

What is the state of the blood supply? Is there any group in critical condition?

— The blood types most frequently missing are O- and A-. The rest are more or less fine. However, we always need O+ because that's what's most commonly transfused.

How many people donate blood each year in the Balearic Islands? Is there an increase or decrease compared to previous years?

— In the Balearic Islands, 22,000 people donate blood each year. There has been a decline in the number of donors, but also in blood consumption. However, the blood we have meets the demand. The Balearic Islands' blood component donation system has been self-sufficient for 14 years.

What is the donor profile?

— This is usually a person between 45 and 47 years old. In 2024, 49% of donors were men and 51% were women. 86.7% of those who donated blood were born in Spain, and the rest were from 78 different countries. Our donor group is aging, and we need a younger generation to replace them.

Do you recommend apheresis donation over conventional donation? What are its advantages?

— We recommend both types of donations. Donation by apheresis (a machine that separates blood components) can be done every two weeks, unlike conventional donation, where men can donate a maximum of four times a year (with a minimum interval of two months between donations) and women, three times. We are the second autonomous community with the most powerful apheresis program in Spain. Donors using this technique are special and committed. I've seen self-employed people close their businesses and even people change a plane ticket because a specific blood type was needed for a specific patient.

During the summer months, the islands receive hundreds of thousands of visitors. What impact does this "floating population" have on the management of the Blood and Tissue Bank?

— Tourism neither subtracts nor adds to the Balearic Islands Blood Bank. The majority of blood components are not transfused to tourists. In fact, 62% of these are transfused to oncohematological patients, and the rest to people who have suffered accidents and women who have had complicated births, among others. Visitors also do not donate blood because they come on vacation. However, there are people from outside the islands who do donate blood, and most are from Latin America. They also come from the Maghreb and North Africa, among others. People from Central Europe also donate blood. Furthermore, as of July of this year, new regulations were issued allowing residents of the United Kingdom and people who lived in the country for a year between 1980 and 1996 to donate blood again. Previously, they were excluded because there were cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as "evil," in the area. However, less than 3% of the healthy population of the Balearic Islands donate blood. If instead of just three percent, we reached 4 percent, there wouldn't be a problem. The problem isn't tourists, but rather that there are too few donors.

How are logistics organized to maintain a constant supply to hospitals on all islands?

— The system is centralized and all the islands benefit. All the blood donated in the archipelago is taken to the Blood Bank in Mallorca, where it is processed, separated, analyzed, filtered, and labeled. It then returns to the rest of the archipelago's hospitals. We send blood to Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera twice a week, and if there's an emergency, we also send it to them. It's all very uniform; what we have here is available on the other islands.

Do you collaborate with other blood banks in Spain? And in Europe?

— Yes. All blood banks are coordinated by the Ministry of Health. We communicate and help each other. In fact, we have working groups and national conferences are held every year. We all face the same problems and are governed by the same legislation. Therefore, we exchange information related to procedures and protocols. Furthermore, there is a European regulation called SoHO (Substances of Human Origin)—which was published in August of last year and will come into force in 2027—that unifies and updates regulations. Europe trains all professionals in the sector so they know what standards they must comply with.

What technological advances have improved blood bank management in recent years?

— Platelet cryopreservation. This blood component has a shelf life of seven days. Therefore, we cryopreserve them at temperatures below 80 degrees Celsius so they last up to six months. Before implementing this system, we had an average platelet shelf life of 25%, but now we've achieved a shelf life of 0.5%. Previously, it was difficult to send platelets to Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera due to their short shelf life, but since this technique was implemented, this has been eliminated. Furthermore, plasma donations made through apheresis are used to make medications that are then distributed to hospitals on the islands. All the autonomous communities do the same, and therefore, if necessary, surplus plasma can be shared between different territories.

Do you use artificial intelligence to perform specific tasks at the blood bank?

— We do not employ.

The tissue bank is the great unknown of the Foundation. How exactly does it work? What services does it provide, and what do you need to do to become a tissue donor?

— Tissue donors are people who, after death, donate corneas, bones, tendons, and other tissues. Everyone is a tissue donor, unless they make it clear before dying that they don't want to be. There's also the Milk Bank, and anyone who wants to donate should contact them through their website.

What are the challenges the blood bank currently faces?

— The important thing is the lack of donors. We must increase the number of plasma donors so we can develop medicines with the goal of achieving self-sufficiency.