The National Blood Service in Accra says it is supplying blood to only health facilities with emergency cases.
This is because its blood collection has reduced drastically in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.
In an interview with Citi News, a Blood Safety officer at the National Blood Service, Dr. Michael Acquah, said an appointment system has been introduced for voluntary blood donors.
“If you look at our collection this year and compare it to a year ago, we are already down by 40 percent. What this means is that we are unable to grant all the requests that are coming in for blood. We have about 40 donors coming in a day and with a demand figure of 70 a day. So what we have done is to send messages to people on our social media handles. We are also calling out donors we have had in the past to help us sort out the blood bank around this time. Last year, nearly 50 percent of our blood came from churches, about 30 percent also came in from schools, so now we are asking donors to come to the collective centres.”
The global pandemic has negatively affected blood supply worldwide.
Authorities say they are unable to organize mass donation exercises which have been the main source of blood supply.
The Blood bank used to rely on blood donations from churches, schools and other groups but since there is a ban on public gatherings, such groups are unable to support in the form of mass donations.
The concerns raised by the National Blood Center comes a day after the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) complained about the same issue.
We’ve run out of blood due to COVID-19 – KATH
KATH’s authorities say the facility’s blood bank has been adversely affected as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of measures to restock the National Blood Bank, the Head of Transfusion Medicine at the hospital, Dr. Shirley Owusu-Ofori said they have adopted a strategy where voluntary blood donors are being contacted to donate, and are given exemption passes which allow them to visit the hospital even during the lockdown.
She appealed to members of the general public to donate blood as they say they are set to mount stands at some vantage points within some municipalities in Kumasi where people can donate while observing the necessary precautionary measures.
“I take this opportunity to reiterate the message of the President to the people of Ghana. He has said it on countless occasions that we are not in normal times. Indeed we are not in normal times as a blood service as well. We rely on the benevolence of donors who have given before to continue to walk in with our passes to give blood to save lives.”
“We even rely more on donors who have never given blood before that this is a good time to show solidarity and to respond to our civic call. The measures of safety are in place and will ensure the safety of every donor who walks into a blood centre to give blood”, she added.