Western Cape Blood Service — multiple roles

The Western Cape Blood Service was established in October 1938 when the first meeting of the Cape Peninsula Blood Transfusion Service took place at Groote Schuur Hospital. It was a slow start, with only 200 donors enrolling in the first three months and an average of 30 transfusions per month. In the 1930s, transfusion practice was in its most basic phase of development. Hospitals would request a donation and when a suitable donor was found, they would report to the hospital. There, blood would be transfused directly from the donor to the recipient with only a screen separating them – a far cry from today’s procedures! The Service was able to provide blood serum and whole blood to military hospitals for the duration of the Second World War from 1939. In 1942, the Service obtained its own building in St. George’s Street where three donors could be accommodated at a time. Back then, blood was collected in Horlicks milk bottles.