Kumasi, July 26, GNA – The Ashanti Regional Office of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has organised a blood donation exercise in partnership with the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) to stock the blood bank of the hospital.
As the second largest referral health facility in the country, KATH plays a significant role in Ghana’s healthcare delivery system and the availability of blood is critical to responding to emergencies.
It is for this reason that the FDA has been organising blood donation exercises over the years in collaboration with KATH to ensure constant availability of blood to save lives.
This year’s exercise which was on the theme, “Donate Blood, Save a life,” also formed part of the Authority’s responsibility to regulate the production of blood supplements and ensure standard procedure and protocols are followed in the collection of blood from donors.
The donors were drawn from staff of the Authority and its clients, various state institutions and some workers of KATH.
Mrs Nora Narkie Terlabie, the Ashanti Regional Head of FDA, said patients needed blood every two seconds to survive in various health facilities, hence the annual event sought to support KATH blood bank to tackle preventable deaths at the facility.
She said access to blood was a huge challenge because the required quantities were usually not available, thereby putting the lives of many patients at risk.
Mrs Terlabie said FDA as an institution had been organising blood donation exercises annually since 2015, but the Ashanti Regional Office instituted the event in 2019 to whip up public interest in complementing Kath’s life-saving efforts.
“As a regulator, the FDA has a responsibility to ensure that blood and blood products are wholesome and we are committed to ensure stocks in blood banks are healthy for transfusion,” she assured.
Mr Shadrack Afful Appiah, Blood Donor Manager of KATH, said the facility was always in dire need of blood to save lives and commended the FDA for their continuous support over the years.
“Blood is like a drug so just as a person could be down with malaria and needs malaria course to get well, it is the same way that if a person is anaemic, that fellow would need blood to survive and it is only through blood transfusion that we can save the life of that patient,” he said.
Mr Appiah encouraged the public to participate in such blood donation exercises to help save the lives of patients during emergencies.
Mr Daniel Geraldo, the Public Relation Officer (PRO) of Ashanti Regional FDA, said it was a civic responsibility of every Ghanaian eligible to donate blood to voluntarily do so to save lives.
He said the health and safety of the public was important to the FDA and urged the public to disregard conspiracy theories by faceless people about blood donations.
GNA