Scots are being urged to donate blood as health experts warn that supplies are critically low.

The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) says it lost 50,000 donors last year - the equivalent of three months' blood supply for the country.

"We are not recruiting enough new donors to balance this out and our blood bank is showing a huge deficit," said Moira Eadie, SNBTS manager in Glasgow.

Scotland requires 1,000 units of blood every day to meet hospital demand.

Moira Eadie: 'Not recruiting enough donors'

The transfusion service is appealing to Scots aged between 17 and 60 to go to give blood.

More than 25,000 Scots did not give blood in 2001 despite being registered donors.

Other problems hitting blood donations include relocations of donors, old age and medical conditions.

Moira Eadie said: "We must recruit at least 63,000 new or lapsed donors in Scotland during 2003 to keep supplies at a safe level and avoid potential future restrictions on blood."

Figures suggest that only one in eight donors gave blood three times a year or more.

Television sports pundit Chick Young is due to help boost the launch on Friday of the National Donor Day campaign.

He will meet with Nicola Kelly, 27, from Dunfermline, who needed 36 units of blood during her fight against life-threatening leukaemia.