BEIJING - In July, Ji Haijie waited in agony for an operation to remove a lump from her pelvic cavity. When her doctor said the surgery might be postponed because clinical blood was in short supply, she almost broke down.

Mi Tianyi, 22, from Hebei province, donates blood at a collection site on Wangfujing Street in Beijing on Thursday. [Photo / China Daily]

Ji came to Beijing Ditan Hospital on July 4, and was scheduled to have surgery on July 13.

Her doctor informed her of a possible delay on July 10, and suggested her family donate blood to exchange for blood that matched Ji's AB type.

Her family pulled up their sleeves and donated 4,000 cubic centimeters of blood. In the end, the surgery went to schedule, after a previous blood donation made by Ji was located.

A sudden announcement of a possible delay to surgery can be a major disruption for patients and their families.

But such inconvenient news is being heard more often in many hospitals in Beijing, as the capital faces another seasonal shortage of blood.

Hu Xiao, a senior anesthesiologist at Peking University First Hospital, told China Daily that it was common for hospitals to delay surgery with a high risk of hemorrhage when there is limited blood supply.

"Most patients are very understanding, because they do not want to take a risk and push for surgery when there are not enough medical supplies," Hu said.

Large and well-run hospitals are learning to cope with less supply, trying various ways to reduce blood usage, according to Hu.

Experienced doctors are proficient in performing operations that do not waste blood. Other measures have also been applied, including recycling of blood, Hu said.

Wang Junping, a publicity official from Wangjing Hospital in Chaoyang district, said patients should make appointments in advance to schedule surgery when there is a blood shortage.

In suitable cases the hospital will also use auto-transfusions, when a patient's own blood is taken beforehand and stored for later use during surgery, Wang said.

"The bottom line is that all urgent operations will take priority in receiving blood," he said.

The Beijing Red Cross Blood Center indicated on its website on Wednesday that all four blood types (A, B, AB and O) are still in severe shortage.

Liu Changli from the center confirmed the blood shortage and called for more people to make voluntary donations.

Based on trends in recent years, Liu predicted the situation would continue until the end of August, when university students, the main source of donations, return for a new semester.

As well, many migrant workers, another major source of blood donations, return to their hometowns during summer.