15 minutes can be crucial: Kuzin urges Ukrainians not to postpone blood type determination

The public organization Donor.ua, together with international partners, announced the launch of the all-Ukrainian initiative "My Blood Type", which aims to provide Ukrainians with quick and high-quality blood type determination. The importance of knowing this data was discussed by the Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine Ihor Kuzin during a press briefing, UNN reports.

Details

Ihor Kuzin emphasized that knowing one's blood type is an important component of personal safety. According to him, during a mass influx of casualties or a shortage of blood supplies, if a doctor knows the patient's blood type in advance, it allows for a quicker understanding of whether the necessary supply is available, or to order the required blood in advance.

And if you have a rare blood type and the doctor knows about it, he can order it from the station from the center 15-20 minutes earlier, even before, accordingly, the necessary laboratory test is carried out, if the doctor does not have this information. Therefore, indeed, in medicine there is a concept of the Golden Hour, and sometimes these 15 minutes gained in logistics can be decisive. Therefore, knowing your blood type is an acceleration of processes that, first of all, save your life personally

In addition, according to Ihor Kuzin, not knowing one's blood type automatically "excludes" a person from the chain of saving others. In situations where blood of a specific type is urgently needed, a person who does not know their data cannot react quickly and help.

Unfortunately, due to the enemy, we live in a country where war has made donation not just an act of goodwill, but a necessity. And situations often arise when blood of a specific type is urgently needed in a particular place to replenish the blood center's reserves. And when you see a message on social networks or in a work chat that there is an urgent need for the first negative for a colleague, military, child, you have two options for reaction. The first, if you do not know your blood type, then you simply ignore this message. And the second option is "You know for sure that this is your blood type", and you understand that you are the very carrier of a scarce resource that can save a life here and now

He also reminded about the importance of this information for pregnancy planning due to the possibility of Rh-conflict.

The official urged Ukrainians not to postpone blood type determination, emphasizing that this data should be stored in a smartphone, medical application, or on special stickers for documents.

Recall

The O.O. Shalimov National Scientific Center for Surgery and Transplantology performed about 250 organ transplants from a deceased donor from 2021 to June 1, 2025.