By Bernice Bessey & Pix by Eric Owiredu
The Melcom Group of Companies, under its charity organization, Melcom Care Foundation, has organized a blood donation exercise in 18 of its branches across the country, to support the Ghana Blood Transfusion Service with the view of enhancing health care delivery in the country.
The exercise is an annual event designed by Melcom to support health delivery system in the country. As part of measures to generate blood for hospitals across the country, the Melcom Care Foundation, which is a welfare organization set up to provide help and assistance to the most vulnerable in society, organized the exercise for its staff and the general public.
Speaking in an interview with journalists, Melcom Group Communication Director, Godwin Avenorgbo said Ghana’s number ‘1’ stop shop had positioned itself in the last three years to assist the Blood Transfusion Service to save lives.
Addressing donors and reporters at Spintex road branch of the company last Friday, he said his outfit’s interest to assist the Service was because blood is the most important substance of human life and, therefore, it must be made available at all times in the hospitals’ blood banks.
Mr. Avenorgbo noted that the donation, which was specifically made to the Ghana Police Hospital, was to assist the health facility, adding “Melcom was embarking on this exercise because the director of the group is a donor and the brain behind the exercise.”
The head of Police Hospital Laboratory and Mortuary, Chief Superintendent of Police, (CSP) Francis Mainu-Ofe reiterated that blood is the most important commodity of health care. However the various hospitals in the country are short of supply for the commodity. The acute shortage of blood at the various health centres has resulted in the inability of the hospitals to provide the necessary care to patients who are in dire need of it.
Blood is often needed for expected mothers, sickle cell patients and accident victims that are under life threatening conditions, he explained. The CSP continued that though blood had a very short life span, the hospitals do not get enough supply to meet their demand. He called on members of the general public to support the hospitals to have enough blood to save lives, saying “the body size does not determine the quantity of blood in person”.
He advised Ghanaians not to wait until their relatives are seriously in need of blood before they give themselves out for donation. Mr. Avenorgbo said research has shown that people who donate blood stand the chance of balance iron level in the blood, better blood flow, mini physical and longer life.
It is however prudent for persons above 18 years of age to make it a point to donate blood voluntarily to help others and the whole society. Blood can be donated at least once or twice a year, but Hypertension and AIDS patients as well as homosexuals are exempted from this exercise.