Some of the students donating blood
MTN Ghana Foundation has organised a blood donation exercise in Koforidua as part of its annual ‘Save A Life’ campaign
The event, which was held at Pope John Senior High School, saw the students and the general public donating pints of blood to restock the blood banks at various hospitals across the region.
Regional Area Sales Manager, David Woase, who spoke to journalists during the exercise, explained that lives were being threatened by the lack of blood in many hospitals while many people relied on family members or paid donors.
According to him, “Since its inception in 2011, the Valentine’s Day blood donation exercise, we have always had one thing in mind – saving the lives of people who need blood.”
“We have recorded so many heartwarming stories of people whose lives have been saved through this exercise. Some of these stories have been told by our own staff whilst others are from our customers,” he added.
According to him, the National Blood Service, Ghana has an estimated population-based blood requirement of 270,000 units of blood but only 160,000 units of blood are collected, which leaves the country with a deficit of 40 per cent
“This why the MTN’s ‘Save A Life’ campaign is very critical. We have made phenomenal progress with this initiative since it started, thanks to the MTN Foundation, our staff volunteers and our donors who put in a lot of effort to make this happen,” he stated.
Mr. Woase said MTN hopes to collect 3,500 pints from 19 bleeding centres set up across the 10 regions of Ghana.
FROM Daniel Bampoe, Koforidua