By Juliet Aguiar DUGBARTEY, Takoradi
MTN Ghana Foundation has held its annual blood donation exercise dubbed ‘Save A Life’ campaign in the Western Region to collect about 750 pints of blood.
The ‘Save a Life’ campaign organized on February 14 every year mobilizes the public to voluntarily donate blood to support the Blood Bank at Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Sekondi and several districts health facilities.
This year, the exercise in the western region was organized at three centres including Takoradi Technical Institute, Fijai Senior High School and St. Mary’s Boys’ Senior High School in Takoradi.
Over the years, the MTN Ghana Foundation has been committed to supporting the development of sustainable social interventions across the country.
“At the core of this has been the focus of improving health standards and access to quality healthcare nationwide. Initiative such as the Save a Life Campaign reinforces the company’s ongoing commitment to enhancing healthcare delivery in Ghana and shows that MTN is a brand that truly cares” Prince Owusu Nyarko, Regional Senior Manager, South West of MTN told the media in an interview.
He mentioned that since its inception in 2011, the MTN Save a Life Campaign which has been in partnership with various institutions has yielded very positive results.
“We have been able to help save lives across the country. Through our collective efforts, people in dire need of medical assistance have received attention”, he noted.
He disclosed that this year, MTN has set for itself, a target of 7,000 units of blood across the country. “We have witnessed remarkable achievements, with over 26,000 pints of blood collected to date”.
He added that following MTN’s comeback in 2023 due to a two-year break as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic, the MTN’s campaign yielded positive results with 6440 units, adding “The highest so far since its inception”.
“These efforts have also earned us recognition as one of the highest corporate blood donors; a testament to the power of collective action in making a difference”, he indicated.
Mary Avormey, Donor Care Unit of EffiaNkwanta Hospital Blood Bank praised MTN for the initiative.
She expressed hope that the annual campaign by MTN will be able to address critical gaps in blood supply and promote voluntary blood donation thereby contributing to saving several lives and also reduce maternal mortality rates across the region.
She, however, mentioned that the main referral health facility in the region would need more blood for the blood bank and appealed to other organizations to emulate MTN by encouraging more Ghanaians to undertake voluntary blood donations and help save lives.
