A volunteer donating blood during the exercise
More than 40 volunteers from the Alive Well-being Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, has donated blood in an exercise organised in collaboration with the National Blood Service (NBS).
The blood drive was organised as part of efforts to shore-up the blood stock at the various hospital blood banks which have been hard hit due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The donation exercise was also to raise awareness of the need for the general public to regularly donate blood on voluntary basis in support of patients who need blood transfusion to manage their health care condition, especially in the pandemic.
Demand for blood transfusion is high at the various health facilities in the country, but the NBS is unable to meet the national demand due to constant decline in voluntary donations.
According to the national blood service’s estimation, about 250 -300 units of blood are needed for supply on daily basis to various health facilities within Accra and its environs but due to the drop in voluntary donations in recent times, the service now struggles to meet the demand, a situation the service believes calls for immediate redress.
As part of the mandate of the group, Alive well-being Foundation supports the NBS with rural and community public education and awareness creation programmes, to ensure the population appreciates the importance of voluntary blood donation and commit to donate blood regularly on voluntary basis.
Chief Executive Officer of the volunteer group, Alive Well-Being Foundation, Daniel Agyekum Ansah in an interview said that the group decided to partner the NBS for the blood donation exercise because, they feel obliged to support the vulnerable especially the sick whose condition could only be managed through blood transfusion and since blood is not manufactured, the only way to help is to lead by example to donate blood.
He encouraged other institutions, individuals and corporate organisations to support their vision in cash and in kind to enable them reach out to far-reaching places to collect more blood for the nation.
The blood donor Services Manager at the National Blood Service, David Ahiadzro thanked the group for the collaboration and urged them to work hard in ensuring the sustenance of the partnership.
The blood donation exercise was organised on world kidney day.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri