The head of laboratory at the War Memorial Hospital, Ramsey Bugri Anafo, has revealed that poor attitude of patients in replacing blood after recovery accounts for the hospital’s inability to maintain the needed amount of blood at the blood bank of the health facility to meet demand.
According to him, patients in good standing to replace blood at the blood bank mostly fail to do so after recovery. There’s also a challenge of others who receive blood but cannot make replacements for genuine reasons.
Speaking with Atinka News’s Senyalah Castro Cazo at a joint blood donation exercise with the ARISE Youth Group in the Kasena/Nankana East municipal Assembly, Mr Anafo described the attitude as very unfortunate and detrimental to the delivery of good health care services by the hospital’s blood bank as the lab continuously suffers blood shortages even at critical moments.
He also bemoaned the attitude of corporate agencies towards blood donation exercises in the region. He said these corporate agencies have paid little or no attention to a vital part of the hospital from which anyone can receive help at any day and point in time. This, he said on the back of the numerous challenges the hospital and similar groups such as the ARISE Group have had to face in pooling resources for mobile donation exercises.
He called for support from individuals and sector agencies in the municipality to help organize more of such blood donation exercises to enable the hospital’s laboratory meet its monthly issuance of about 400 units of blood to patients.
” we issue a lot of blood at the War Memorial Hospital to our clients. For instance, if you look at our monthly data that we compile, we issue a total number of about 300 to 400 units of blood. So it is very vital that we support exercises like this, individually or as groups or agencies, to help us stock the fridge so that we can give out blood anytime there’s the need, “Mr. Anafo said.
Raphael Kwarase, leader of the ARISE Group explained that the drive to partner with the hospital in the blood donation exercise was propelled by the need to help minimize the impact of frequent blood shortages at the hospital on patients. He noted that there is a huge gap in the number of blood transfusions carried out at the facility and its ability to readily make available the vital liquid.
He further stated that the hospital which is the principal health care provider in the municipality made about 1,200 blood transfusions in the past eleven months, a figure that translates to three patients a day. ” This a huge number that is challenging when you don’t have ready blood stock and we therefore need to work hard to achieve this” he added.
This year’s blood donation exercise had the support of many youth cliques in the municipal assembly. There were lots of refreshments, fun games for donors and musical performances from NeLo Gh and Carl Blingx.
ARISE is an action-driven youth group in Kasena/Nankana East that goes ” beyond the talk” with an objective of identifying and solving societal problems through strategic partnerships and network.
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com
