Blood donors GH holds blood donation exercise

Blood donation is a noble act in saving lives and fundamental for most medical procedures to take place. Doctors and surgeons rely on blood products donated to carry out a wide variety of life-saving and life-enhancing treatments every day.

Inasmuch as Blood Banks are responsible for making sure hospitals and health centres have adequate blood supplies at all times, as citizens, we may find it necessary to help restock Blood Banks with enough blood at all times.

In this regard, Blood Donors Gh in partnership with Tema Supreme Leo Club, supported by Internal Maritime Authority Hospital (IMAH) undertook a blood donation exercise on 23rd October 2021 to help restock IMAH Blood Bank.

The event took place at Community four (4) Chinese Basket Ball Court, Tema, Ghana, between the hours of 7:00 am and 2:00 pm GMT.

It was open to people between the ages of 18 and 60 who were eligible and willing to donate their blood to save lives. A total number of 43 people volunteered, of which 18 of them just passed by to have their vitals such as blood pressure and other basic tests like blood group and sugar status checked.

The volunteers were made to undergo a health screening process before they could donate. They were also made to verbally provide information to some health related questions and concerns to ascertain their eligibility to donate.

These processes were necessary to ensure that there were no negative health effects or danger to donors or a future recipient that will use these bloods. After this process, 25 people were deemed fit and successfully donated their blood.

Prior to the donation, these 25 people were taken through counselling and also decide to donate voluntarily. Those who had not eaten were either given some snacks or food depending on their preference before the donation procedure. 10 people out of the 43 were ineligible to donate due to factors relating to low and high blood pressure, previous history of surgical procedures in the last 1 year, low haemoglobin levels, underweight and old age.

During the donation procedure, one unit of blood weighing approximately 450 ml was collected from each of the 25 donors. Following the donation procedure, the donor were immediately given milo drink to help replenish their fluid and were made to relax at a refreshment area for at least 10 minutes for monitoring. While relaxing, they were admonished to take enough rest and refrain from active movement or heavy lifting for the rest of the day so as to avoid the occurrence of any health complications. After that, each person was given a pack of food to eat so they could gain their energy back faster and also 10 cakes of lifebuoy 85g soap as souvenirs.

The health professionals who conducted the exercise were 10 in total; 2 Medical Laboratory Scientists from Blood Donors Gh thus Mr. Kenneth K. Amevor and Miss Naa Amerley Anuwa-Amarh, and 8 health workers from International Maritime Authority Hospital and Tema General Hospital. Additionally, 10 members from Tema Supreme Leo Club, 3 volunteers from the Lions (2 from Tema Gentlewomen Lions Club and 1 from Tema Supreme Lions Club) and 1 PL from Prospective Koforidua U-Tech Leo Club were present to provide general support during the exercise.

The estimated Budget for this activity was 741USD, which is equivalent to GHS 4,490.00. This amount was supposed to cover up for cost of canopy, chairs and table rentals, t-shirts and souvenirs for donors, refreshment for donors, the health professionals and volunteers and all other related costs.