A senior health official is warning that critically low blood supplies at the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) are putting lives at risk, with current stocks at just half the level needed to meet demand.

In a candid interview with The Gleaner on Monday, Dr Kamille West-Mitchell, director of the NBTS, said the shortage means some patients are being denied urgently needed blood transfusions.

“Every day or night or weekend, there is somebody who needs it and did not get it because we don’t have it,” she said.