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Voluntary donors respond to blood shortage – Health Minister
Some of the voluntary blood donors
Staffers of the Ministry of Health opted to lead by example yesterday when they decided to become voluntary blood donors to help replenish the dwindling National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) buffer stock.
Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy last Monday made the call for donors to support the blood bank.
And according to him more than 30 units of blood were donated which should have been supplemented by an additional 29 units from a drive held at the NBTS yesterday.
The Minister anticipated that additional donations would have further boosted the stock by the end of yesterday
He said that the decision by the Ministry staff is a clear indication that they will not just call on other people to be voluntary donors thus setting an example to be emulated.
“We decided that while calling we would come out ourselves so that our buffer stock can be increased.”
According to the Minister, since he announced the NBTS needs, the public has responded favourably, a move which has seen a near 50 percent increase in the daily number of donors.
This, he said, is an indication that the Guyanese public is listening and is willing to respond.
Early last year the blood bank tried to maintain a buffer stock of 120 units of blood which was enough at the time to respond to the daily needs and for emergencies.
The buffer stock quota was subsequently increased to 170 units, according to Dr Ramsammy.
He noted, though, that given the workload at both the public and private hospitals it is likely that its blood bank will further augment the units stored to a possible 200 units.
He lamented the fact that at the beginning of this week, the buffer stock level was a mere 48 units of blood.
However, with the response from members of the public the Minister disclosed that the level has since improved somewhat.
“We are going to have a number of the units we have in stock given out to hospitals and therefore it’s going to remain at about a quarter of what we need.
That is really risky because if we have an emergency it would mean that we would not have and we would have to depend on the family donors and we don’t want to go back to that.”
He noted that he will target public leaders in the society, business leaders among others to help lead the process of voluntary blood donation even as he mused at the fact that blood is not a commodity that could be purchased.
Currently, only about .5 percent of the adult population of Guyana have donated blood even as regular donors or as family replacement donors.
There is therefore a need, the Minister said for that percentage to be upped to about 1 to 1.5 percent.
“My call is simple…Anybody who is a regular donor this is a good time to donate.
And those people who have never donated blood this is a very good time for you to become a regular donor,” urged Dr Ramsammy.
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