Dr Justina Ansah presenting the annual performance review
Dr Justina K. Ansah, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Blood Bank, has called on Health Minister Kweku Agyemang-Manu to push for the swift passage of the National Blood Service Bill currently in parliament.
According to her, the absence of a legislation to give a legal backing to their activities was affecting the effective coordination of blood services nationwide.
She, thus, disclosed that the passage of the bill into law would establish the legal framework for the proper implementation of regulations and administrative instructions for the National Blood Service and blood transfusion services in the country.
“The LI has been drafted and is awaiting passage of the Blood Service Bill into an Act and we hope cabinet will approve it within the shortest possible time,” she said.
Dr Ansah was speaking at the annual blood service performance review for 2016, where the corporate objectives of the service for 2016, the performance and health service delivery of the service, as well as the challenges and way forward were assessed by stakeholders.
She indicated that the corporate objectives for the service in 2016 were to increase the percentage of donated blood collected from voluntary non-remunerated blood donors nationwide and by Area Blood Centres to 50 percent and 60 percent respectively. It also projected to increase its blood collection index (BCI) per 1,000 population to 6.1.
The service, however, could not meet their objectives, as it recorded 36 percent in donated blood collected from voluntary non-remunerated blood donors nationwide.
The target of the percentage of donated blood collected from voluntary non-remunerated blood donors by Area Blood Centres was nearly met, with the service recording 55 percent.
Its target on the blood collection index was missed by one percent, as the service recorded 6.0 percent per 1,000 population.
Dr Ansah added, “We organised world blood donor day and national blood donor day with support from Rotary clubs of Accra, we provided 4 Mercedez Benz vans each to sub-divided area blood banks, renovated a temporary structure provided by TTH board for operations of NABC (under HSRP III).”
Dr Ansah, however, stated that the service is faced with challenges, including inadequate budget from other sources and skilled staff, high attrition due to absence of specialisation, especially for donor care staff and absence of government support for goods and services.
She, thus, urged the government to provide adequate funds for the operation of the NBS and ABCs, infrastructural development for the CABC and NABC and formation of independent fixed blood collection teams for ABCs in order to meet the 2017 targets of increasing the percentage of donated blood collected from voluntary non-remunerated blood donors nationwide and by Area Blood Centres to 50 percent and 70 percent and the blood collection index (BCI) per 1,000 population to 6.5.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri