A pedestrian balances on a slippery road covered in thick snow yesterday in the Wanli residential area in Putuo District. - Shanghai Daily

Shanghai Daily news

The city's medical emergency centers sent out 793 ambulances on Monday, the highest number so far this year.

And local hospitals dealt with 2,982 patients with fractures and other injuries because of the snow between last Friday and Sunday, the Shanghai Health Bureau said yesterday.

The accident and emergency departments were the busiest sections in every hospital.

The orthopedic emergency department at Shanghai No. 6 People's Hospital received 70 to 80 patients with fractures every day, four times the usual amount.

The snow and cold also resulted in a rise in the number of patients suffering injuries needing blood transfusions and local blood authorities issued an appeal for more donors.

"The demand for blood is rising quickly in recent days with the increased traffic accidents,'' said Song Qi, an official at the Shanghai Blood Administration Office. "But our blood collecting centers and vehicles only received less than 70 liters of blood every day recently, a drop of 20 to 30 percent. Local medical treatment can be affected if the donation level keeps dropping.''

The authorities sent blood donation units to Shanghai Railway Station and Shanghai South Railway Station, and they had attracted more than 200 donors over the past three days.

A majority of donors at the stations were migrant workers buying train ticket or waiting for trains which had been delayed due to the weather.

Tao Hua, an Anhui native waiting for a train at the station square, gave a donation yesterday afternoon immediately after seeing the blood collecting vehicle. "It is meaningful to help others by donating blood. I hope the good deed can help me go back home earlier,'' she said.

Jiang Dawei and his nephew donated blood yesterday when going to Shanghai Railway Station to buy train tickets. "It is my first blood donation, which I will always remember along with the snow,'' Jiang said.

Changhai Hospital said yesterday that it provided free surgery to a Guizhou Province native who had suffered a severe brain haemorrhage on Monday afternoon, since his family wasn't able to mail the medical expenses to Shanghai.

Feng Wenbang, a 35-year-old migrant working in Shanghai since 1997, was sent to the hospital after complaining of a strong headache on Sunday. The hospital found he was in a critical condition and contacted his family as he needed immediate surgery.