• The National Blood Bank has often had a shortage of blood
• The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has made the situation dire
Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, a renowned Cellular Pathologist and a former Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has made a clarion call on the Bank of Ghana, financial institutions and other state bodies in the country to voluntarily embark on regular blood donation exercises.
The call, according to the former Head of the Pathology Department of the University of Ghana Medical School, is necessary to help stock the blood banks across the country, which are fast running out of blood to save lives of people in need.
“What if Dr Ernest Addison came out to say that if the Insurance Commission has declared August as the month for donating blood, the banks will take April or March just a month preceding Easter to conduct blood donation exercises and he as Governor of the banking service can then marshal the entire banking system including rural banks as well as the financial institutions, and my God, will that not help?” he asked.
Prof. Akosa said this speaking at a ceremony as the Guest Speaker to climax the end of a nationwide blood donation exercise embarked on by the insurance industry in Ghana since it was launched on August 19, 2021, by the Commissioner of Insurance, Dr. Justice Ofori.
He further pointed to superstition as one of the challenges creating a lack of interest in voluntary blood donation and demystified the fact that nothing bad happens to anyone who donated blood.
“The body has a capacity to regenerate itself and even in regenerating itself you would say that your body has given itself a booster during that period of regeneration”.
He suggested that the spirit of volunteerism should be inculcated in Senior High School students, especially for blood donation purposes.
Prof. Akosa also commended the NIC for the initiative and all regulated insurance entities for rallying behind the Commissioner to make the 2-month long campaign a success.
Commissioner of Insurance, Dr. Justice Ofori in his address stated: “this exercise which was under the auspices of the National Blood Service (NBS) couldn’t have come at a better time as the COVID-19 pandemic had taken a toll on gestures of this nature, leading to dwindling stocks while accident victims, pregnant women in labour cry out in need of blood to survive.
"I will, therefore, urge all corporate entities and state institutions and members of the public to take a cue from this campaign to save lives.”.
Chief Executive Officer of the National Blood Service, Dr. Justina Ansah, who said the continuous and voluntary donation was critical to replenishing the blood banks.
She explained that the novel initiative by the NIC is a move in the right direction and also described blood as an un-manufacturable drug that can only be made available through voluntary donations.
The insurance industry was largely represented by major stakeholders such as the Ghana Insurers Association (GIA), the Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana (IBAG), the Chartered Insurance Institute of Ghana (CIIG), and the West African Insurance Companies Association (WAICA).
The 2021 donation campaign which saw over 800 units of blood donated by employees from the insurance industry was under the theme: "Donate blood, save a life; if you do it for someone, you do it for yourself."
Meanwhile, the month of August has been declared by the Insurance Industry as blood donation month.
The National Blood Bank has often had a shortage of blood