Information Ministry to organise blood donation exercise on July 27

A Deputy Minister of Information, Fatimatu Abubakar, has announced that the Ministry is set to organise a blood donation next week Wednesday. The exercise, which is to be held at the Ministry’s Car Park in Accra, is aimed at shoring up the supply at the National Blood Bank.

She made the disclosure when she interacted with journalists during the Ministers’ Press briefing in Accra yesterday.

“The Ministry of Information, in collaboration with its press pool, will be organising a ‘Blood Donation and Health Screening’ exercise as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility to shore up supply at the National Blood Bank.

“The blood donation exercise comes off on Wednesday July 27, 2022 at the Ministry’s Car Park at 9:30am. All interested persons who wish to take part in the noble course to donate blood should call 0595740596,” she announced.

The Deputy Information Minister expressed concern about the perennial shortage of blood in most health facilities, urging citizens to move away from the over-reliance on family replacement donations and “embrace voluntary, anonymous and unpaid blood donation to guarantee adequate and safe blood for transfusion”.

Saving lives

She said blood transfusion is an indispensable intervention in healthcare delivery that had contributed to saving thousands of lives each year in routine and emergency cases.

“A functional national blood supply system that relies on regular blood donations by voluntary donors from low-risk population is, therefore, a prerequisite for achieving self-sufficiency in safe blood and blood products in Ghana,” she noted.

She, however, indicated that the national blood supply system continues to rely heavily on replacement donations by family relations and friends of patients who had require blood transfusion.

“Blood transfusion is critical to achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goal 3.8, which seeks to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Indeed, blood transfusion contributes to reducing maternal mortality and the death of newborns and children aged under-five, combating epidemics of communicable diseases, such as AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and the neglected tropical diseases and also hepatitis, as well as preventing deaths and managing injuries from road traffic accidents,” she explained.

To this end, the Deputy Information Minister called on people to voluntarily and regularly donate blood to help “save the lives of people with a wide variety of medical needs, from pre-planned, minor procedures to emergency surgeries”.