Australia's blood stocks are expected to drop to their lowest point since the start of the pandemic after donations took a nosedive due to the current surge in flu cases across the country, as well as colds and COVID.
The Australian Red Cross Lifeblood needs 17,500 donors to help raise supply over the next week, with their stocks of A, O, and B blood groups under pressure.
The organisation says it will have "two days" of supply left by mid week.
Lifeblood's Cath Stone said there had been large numbers of appointment cancellations and no-shows.
"What we are seeing is another cycle of cold and flu sweep through the country and that's what is having the impact," she said.
"We are really starting to feel the pinch now."
Ms Stone is urging anyone who is eligible to donate and is well and healthy to book an appointment.
"There are patients in hospital right now who are relying on blood for cancer treatment, surgery, accidents, and complicated births. Every blood donation can help to save up to three lives," Ms Stone said.
Anyone who is recovering from COVID-19 and wants to give blood should wait for seven days of being symptom-free.
Tasmanian man Steven Lawson has donated blood around 50 times, and he hopes to see more people roll up their sleeves.
"It doesn't cost you anything, just a little bit of your time and you help people out," he said.
"There are a lot of young kids that have got cancer that need the blood, and so it helps everybody out.
"You never know when you're going to need it yourself."
Advocates call for reform of 'archaic' policy
While Ms Stone said the eligibility rules for donors were "constantly reviewed and updated", some advocates would like to see more done to expand the pool of donors.
Bisexual men, gay men, and trans women cannot give blood in Australia if they have had sex with men in the past three months.
LGBTIQA+ advocate and Just Equal Australia spokesman Rodney Croome said it was time for that to change.
"It's outdated, discriminatory and it means there are fewer blood donors available to save lives," he said.
"The Red Cross Lifeblood Service is literally begging people to donate, yet they're saying to gay men who are safe to donate, 'We don't want you'. It's hard to see that as anything but discrimination.
"It no longer makes any sense. The rates of new HIV infections amongst gay men is going down in Australia, whereas the rates of infection amongst heterosexual people is going up."
Ben Dudman said, as a gay man, he felt the policy was "archaic" and needed urgent reform.
"To still have barriers like this, it is absolutely devastating," he said.
Canada this year removed the ban on blood donations from gay men, with the country's health department describing it as "a significant milestone toward a more inclusive blood donation system".
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the change was long overdue, saying the old approach was "discriminatory and wrong".
Mr Croome said he would like to see Australia take a similar approach, with other countries, including the United Kingdom and France, also implementing a system that assesses the individual risks of every donor.
"It means there is more safe blood available to save lives and it means there is less discrimination," Mr Croome said.
"It is beyond me why we don't do that in Australia."
He said if the ban was lifted, it would mean an estimated 25,000 litres of extra blood would be available each year.
A spokesperson for Red Cross Lifeblood said they "understood the rules would exclude some groups", but that although gay and bisexual men in declared monogamous relationships were low risk, they were "still at a higher risk of exposure than people in heterosexual relationships".
"It makes sense for the UK and Canada to change their approach because the distribution of new and existing across their populations is evenly spread," they said in a statement.
"Based on our HIV patterns, we believe this would not maintain the present safety of the blood supply."
