The National Insurance Commission (NIC), as part of its corporate social responsibility, has donated 2,203 units of blood to help restock the National Blood Bank.
The blood was donated by staff of insurance companies and organisations across the country as part of the 2023 Blood Donation Campaign by the Insurance Industry under the theme “Donate blood to save a life, as you do it for others, you do it for yourself.”
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the exercise, which started in September last year and ended in January 2024, at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital at Ridge in Accra, the Acting Commissioner of Insurance, Mr Michael K. Andoh, said blood was an important commodity to save lives, yet it could not be manufactured.
He said it was in that direction that the NIC and its partners in the insurance industry instituted the blood donation campaign to annually collect blood to restock the National Blood Bank.
The Acting Commissioner of Insurance said the response by the insurance companies and organisations for this year’s exercise had been tremendous.
Mr Andoh said there was more than 180 units increase in the units of blood collected this year, saying 2,015 units of blood was collected during the 2022 exercise.
He appealed to individuals who were qualified to donate blood to voluntarily do so to help replenish the National Blood Bank.
The outgone Medical Director of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Dr Emmanuel Srofenyoh, said the National Blood Service estimated that about 300,000 units of blood was needed every year to meet the national blood needs of the country, but the National Blood Service was unable to raise such quantity of blood.
He said some patients die because there was no blood to cater for them.
Dr Srofenyoh emphasised that the partnership between the NIC and the Greater Regional Hospital to collect blood for the National Blood Service was yielding positive results and commended the NIC and the insurance industry players for instituting the programme.
The Southern Zonal Blood Centre of the National Blood Service, Dr Dilys John-Teye said the sustainability of effective blood transfusion service hinged fully on voluntary non-remunerated blood donation.
She said blood supply needed to be constantly replenished due to the limited shelf of life of whole blood and blood components and commended NIC and its partners for the programme.
As part of the programme, the NIC donated about 40 boxes of caesarian section packs for the Greater Accra Regional Hospital and also provided food packs for women in the labour ward of the hospital.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE