New Jersey's health commissioner says the state is facing a blood shortage.

Health and Senior Services Commissioner Mary O'Dowd is planning to stop by at a blood drive in Mount Holly on Monday to push more residents to give blood.

Her department says the state has less than a 48-hour supply of blood for trauma care, critical surgeries, cancer patients and organ transplants. Because of the shortage, New Jersey has to import blood from other states.

Officials say that just 3.6 percent of the state's adults donate blood. If giving matched the national average of 5 percent, they say New Jersey could have a self-sustaining supply.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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