The first institution concerning itself with blood donations in Poland was formed in 1935 at the Polish Red Cross Hospital in Warsaw. It was named the Institute of Blood Drawing and Conserving. The following year the Polish Red Cross organised the Central Accident Station in Łódź, which included a blood transfusion centre. During their first few years, both centres were engaged in the development of the principles and basis of blood transfusion and popularising them.

In the last year before the outbreak of World War 2 there were three blood transfusion centres in Poland. They had around a thousand regular donors. During the war the need for blood increased dramatically. Honorary donors began to volunteer en masse, and the first to give blood were nurses. Mass participation, especially by women and young people, during the time of the Warsaw Uprising was one of the finest episodes in the history of the Polish Red Cross.

The first blood transfusion centre after the war was set up in March 1945 in Łódź. It was initially directed by Prof. Ludwik Hirszfeld.

By 1950 14 blood donor centres had been established with 6500 donors. They were managed by the Emergency Help and Blood Donors department of the Red Cross' main board. It developed the first regulations for blood centres and the first organisational regulations for giving blood in Poland, the Polish Red Cross recruits donors, collects the blood, stores it and issues it to hospitals, trains doctors in haemotherapy and organises courses for auxiliary staff.

On 2 June 1958 the cabinet created the Haematology Institute in Warsaw. The blood service was subordinated to the Department of Health, and since then the Polish Red Cross has been solely responsible for all promotion and organisation of the honorary donors movement.

During the first few years of its existence, the Institute systematised and unified the rules for haemotherapy, and created new blood service centres. The Institute also provides professional training for scientific and laboratory workers and technicians.

During this time the Polish Red Cross concentrated on matters of promoting blood donorship and finding donors. The mass publication campaign involved issuing posters, popular brochures and hundreds of thousands of leaflets. The Polish Red Cross devoted much attention to a campaign to make people aware of the harmlessness of giving blood. Talks and lectures in workplaces, schools and other institutions were the most common form of promotion. The PRC also campaigned directly on the shop floor for people to give blood.

The national and regional press have published a lot of material about giving blood. Radio and television have broadcast many programmes.

Meetings have been organised for the most active donors, where thanks and diplomas were given, and the most deserving received souvenirs and distinctions. Meanwhile travelling teams were organised to workplaces, where blood was taken from volunteers.