Regular blood donors will be able to use public transport in Prague for free for one year.

The idea is part of a project that the City Hall runs with the Czech Red Cross. The offer will concern donors who have participated in more than 80 blood donations.

According to the data, 736 Praguers reached this number last year. 

The Czech Republic is lacking around 100,000 blood donors. While existing donors are getting older, fewer new ones are coming forward every year. Experts say commercial blood donation has also been contributing to the problem. 

Transfusion centres say that the biggest shortage of blood occurs in the summer months when the number of accidents increases at the same time as many donors are away.

At present, there are some 270,000 voluntary blood donors in the country with a population of 10.5 million, which is far below the 4 percent of inhabitants that the Council of Europe recommends as a sufficient share of blood donors.

Over the past decade, the register of blood donors has been shrinking due to older people no longer giving for various reasons and a lack of younger people joining to replace them. 

People are also concerned that they could get an infection from donating blood. Everything used to donate blood is disposable, and the risk of getting an infection from donating is zero, according to experts.

Blood can be donated at the Královské Vinohrady University Hospital, Thomayer Hospital, the General University Hospital, the Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, and the Military University Hospital 

Author: red