The National Blood Service (NBS) last year collected 178,200 units of blood to meet the national demand for blood during emergencies.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NBS, Dr Shirley Owusu-Ofori, disclosed this in Accra yesterday in an interview with the Ghanaian Times during the 2023 Insurance Industry Blood Donation Campaign.
According to her, the blood collected last year represented 54 per cent of the national target of 330,000 units.
Dr Owusu-Ofori cited religious reasons, misconceptions, myths, unwillingness of some people to voluntarily donate blood as some of the reasons the NBS was unable to meet its annual blood target.
According to Dr Owusu-Ofori, some people harbour this fear that if they donate blood, they would lose their fertility and maybe attract infections, adding that the low education and awareness and voluntary blood donation were also some of the reasons the NBS could not meet its blood target.
The two-month programme, being organised by the National Insurance Commission (NIC) in collaboration with the NBS, Ghana Insurers Association, Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana, and the Chartered Institute of Insurance Ghana, was on the theme “Donate Blood, Save a Life As you do for someone, you do it for yourself ”.
As part of the programme which is being done across the country, the Insurance Industry is expected to collect at least 4000 units of blood to stock the National Blood Bank.
She said the NBS was collaborating with the National Media Commission, the National Commission for Civic Education in order to intensify education on voluntary blood donation so that the NBS would be able to collect more blood to save the lives of people who needed it.
The CEO, NBS, commended the NIC and insurance companies for instituting the annual exercise to collect blood for the NBS.
The Medical Director of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Dr Emmanuel Srofenyo, said blood was a gift from nature and could not be manufactured.
He said inadequate blood supply to the various hospitals were the leading cause of child and maternal mortalities in the country.
The Medical Director of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital entreated the public to voluntarily donate blood to save lives.
According to him, donating blood had a lot of health benefits including reducing the risk of developing cancer, maintaining healthy liver, stimulation of blood cell production, weight loss and improve one mental state.
Dr Srofenyo entreated corporate organisations and individuals to emulate the example of the NIC and its partners to donate blood regularly to save lives.
The Acting Commissioner of the NIC, Michael K. Andoh, in his remarks, said the Insurance Blood Donation Exercise was introduced two years ago to help mobilise blood for the NBS.
He said the exercise was being done across the country by the insurance companies to help mobilise blood for the NBS.
Mr Andoh entreated all the insurance companies and the general public to take part in the exercise to mobilise blood for the NBS.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
