Magen David Adom Launches Blood Program; Leaders Urge American Aid

Leaders of Magen David Adom. Israel’s official Red Cross agency, have announced a major effort to expand and rebuilt Israel’s major blood banking facility, the Colonel David Marcus Blood Bank and Fractionation Center in Jaffa. The announcement was jointly made by Magen David Adom’s president. Dr. Eliahu Elath. and the head of MDA’s Foreign Relations Department, Mr. David Tesher. who each issued an urgent appeal to American friends of Magen David Adom to help in this vital project, designed to upgrade the capabilities of the Blood Bank Center in order to meet the emergency blood needs of the nation. Dr. Fred Rothstein, newly appointed Director of the Marcus Blood Center, called the project “the most important effort ever undertaken by the Blood Center.”

The prime purposes of the blood project, which include the act of separating whole blood into its component parts and the ability to store these components for an indeterminate time, “are absolutely essential to the maintenance of the health and well-being of Israel’s 2 1/2 million citizens in the coming months and years,” according to Dr. Rothstein. Hundreds of items of equipment are desperately needed to assure the success of this effort, Dr. Elath and Mr. Tesher said, and only through vigorous support by members of American Red Mogen Dovid for Israel. Magen David Adom’s supply wing, can this monumental task be effectively implemented. Benjamin Saxe, National Executive Director of American Red Mogen Dovid for Israel, stated that “every possible method at our command is being employed to acquaint the American people with the urgency of the Marcus Center blood program, and to seek nationwide support for this highly significant project.”