By Deborah Asantewaah SARFO
The Ghana National Blood Service (NBS) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Shirley Owusu-Ofori, has announced plans for the agency to set up blood centres in all 16 regions across the country to ensure availability and accessibility of blood for patients.
According to her, the main task of these centres will be mobilising voluntary donors, recruiting and educating them to collect blood and distribute it to the hospitals. This initiative will bring blood to patients “so that no one dies or illness worsens from lack of blood”.
Dr. Owusu-Ofori noted that currently they only have centres in the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Northern Regions .
“The blood service that is pursuing our mandates to be able to establish regional blood centres across all our 16 regions, whose sole help us and mandates to go out to collect from voluntary donors and to stock hospitals so that no one dies or no one’s illness gets worse from lack of blood, she elaborated.
She made this announcement at the MTN ‘Save a Life’ blood donation exercise, an initiative which commenced in 2011 to help restock the blood bank and provide a lifeline for those in need. Since its inception, it has also fostered a strong partnership between MTN Ghana Foundation, the NBS, 37 Military Hospital, Greater Accra Regional Hospital and others.
Dr. Owusu-Ofori noted that regional blood centres have become imperative because they continue to face challenges in ensuring sufficient and safe blood supply for all patients across the country.
She added that with blood having a limited shelf-life of 35 days, the blood bank always needs continuous replenishments – but the country is unable to meet the WHO’s minimum requirement of 10 units per 1,000 of the population, leading to achieving “about 40 percent of demand, since only about 6 persons out of 1,000 donate blood in Ghana”.
Detailing the progress made so far with respect to regional centres, she noted that they have developed some concept notes and taken further steps to approach the Ministry of Finance for endorsement and financial assistance.
Additionally, they have reached out to teaching hospitals and the Ghana Health Service in the regions for land to build these regional blood centres.
Focusing on the contributions of MTN’s ‘Save a Life initiative’, she said it has yielded over 29,000 units of blood to date. While 2023 saw a slight dip with 5,900 units, in 2024 they collected 6,440 units across the country.
She emphasised that the activity remains a priority on the NBS calendar and is a testament to the impact of collaboration.
For his part, Acting Chief Corporate and Sustainability Officer-MTN Ghana, Nana Kofi Asare, said for this year they have set up 42 bleeding-centres in all 16 regions across the country to collect over 6,000 units of blood from all locations; thereby making more locations available for more volunteers to donate blood.
He commended donors for their support, stressing that their willingness to give of themselves has created a ripple-effect of kindness that resonates throughout the communities.
Dr. Owusu-Ofori urged individuals to spread the message that blood donation is safe – and that it remains the only means to support friends and loved ones who need transfusions to manage their health conditions, as blood cannot be manufactured.
