Dr. Justina Kordai Ansah, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Blood Service, Ghana, has said in 2016, a total of 160, 624 units of blood was collected nationwide.
However, out of the number, only 36.2 percent (3.6 out of 10) of the donations were from Voluntary Unpaid Blood Donor source (VUBDs).
[contextly_sidebar id=”HWmpbOuVPtHYec4LI5rYMeFQXEwE2PbU”]“Of these, VUBDs is only a third were regular donors, whereas regular voluntary blood donation is the only foundation for a sustainable supply of adequate and safe blood and blood products.
“The rest of the 63.8 percent (6.4 out of 10) was from family replacement donors which are well known to be often a hidden-paid system that compromises the adequacy and safety of the national blood supplies of any country that depends mainly on the system,” Mrs Ansah said on Wednesday when Ghana joined the rest of the World to mark this year’s World Blood Donor Day in Accra.
Bemoaning the only six percent out of the 1,000 population in any community that donated blood in 2016, Mrs Ansah said it was woefully inadequate for a middle-income country like Ghana.
“This situation severely compromises safety and adequacy of blood and blood components for both medical and surgical care in our health facilities which will definitely be worsened during disasters requiring transfusions,” she said
She noted that, for the adequate supply of blood during emergencies to be effective in the country, there was the need for a well-organised blood service, and a blood donor population, committed to voluntary unpaid blood donation in the country.
“We can move away from this rather worrying situation if one percent of Ghana’s population commits to donating blood regularly,” Mrs Ansah said.
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Source: GNA