The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) yesterday organised blood donation for the staff of their offices across the country, with a target of 2,000 units of blood to re-stock the National Blood Bank.
The annual programme, the 6th edition of its kind, was on the theme ‘Give Blood, Share Life’, and part of FDA’s corporate social responsibility.
It was supported by other staff from the Ghana Standards Authority, National Identification Authority, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Food Research Institute, Ghana Red Cross, Nurses and Midwifery Council, West African Examination Council, Tullow and Deloitte
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of FDA, Dr Delese Mimi Darko, in a speech read on her behalf by Dr Akua Martey, Deputy CEO of Technical Operation, said in 2019 that the donation drive went national where the regional offices were supported and encouraged to actively participate in the exercise, adding that a total of 504 units of blood were collected that year.
“In 2020, the FDA was unable to organise a donation drive due to the restrictions that the COVID-19 pandemic imposed, however, in the following year, 2021, 670 units of blood were donated,” she added.
She subsequently said that in 2022, the Authority collected a total of 1,489 units of blood.
Dr Darko stated that blood was an essential medicines by the World Health Organisation and the Ghana Health Service because they were indispensable and life-saving medical interventions.
She said every two seconds, someone would need blood to survive, adding that unfortunately, human blood could not be produced through artificial means, as there was no substitute for it.
Dr Darko said blood was a precious body substance, which could only come from generous donors.
“A nation’s blood supply is a unique life-giving resource, as it is said: “the gift of blood is the gift of life,” she added.
The Deputy Chief Blood Donor Recruitment Officer of the National Blood Service, Mrs Joyce Oppong Adu, told the Ghanaian Times that the National Blood Service was committed to providing safe and adequate blood for people who were in dire need of them.
She mentioned some of the benefits of blood donation as reducing the risk of heart and cancer diseases, free medical screening and helps with fresh blood cells.
Mrs Adu commended the FDA for the initiative and appealed to the public to donate to stockpile the blood bank for emergency cases.
BY ANITA NYARKO-YIRENKYI
