'Donate Blood Voluntarily'

MADAM MARY Magdalene Arthur, acting District Director of Health Services at Wassa Amenfi East, has expressed the need for voluntary blood donation for emergency blood transfusion services at the Wassa Akropong Government Hospital.

Against this backdrop, she said, the District Directorate of Health Services in the region recently embarked on an intensive educational programme to help change blood-donor apathy among the people in the district.

Speaking in an interview with HEALTH MATTERS in her office at Wassa Akropong, Madam Arthur indicated that it was crucial for people to donate blood voluntarily considering the sudden increase in anaemia cases and maternal care in the district.

She said it was also the desire of the district hospital to reduce child and maternal mortality by the year 2015 in fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5.

A total of 53 people, she said, responded positively following an educational programme carried out last week, adding that 10 out of the number tested positive to HIV.

Madam Arthur bemoaned the difficulty in getting organisations and individuals to sponsor programmes that would motivate prospective blood donors to volunteer during blood donation exercises.     

Dr. Frederick Yaw Sarpong, Medical Superintendent in-charge of the Wassa Akropong Government Hospital, stressed the need for people to stay healthy by engaging in physical exercises, drinking lots of water, eating plant- based food products and having enough rest.

He said these four activities, when carried out religiously, would help reduce the incidence of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension, stroke and other Cardiovascular Diseases in the district.

From Sam Mark Essien, Wassa Akropong