(THE CHRONICLE) Members of the Tema Methodist Circuit, on Saturday, put together a blood donation programme aimed at generating blood to fill the National Blood Bank at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
The Tema Methodist Circuit is made up of three societies, which are the St Paul’s Methodist Cathedral at Tema Community One, St. Andrew Methodist Church, Tema Community Two and Calvary Methodist Church, Tema Community Three.
Some members of the church, who had previously donated blood, turned up at the venue for the programme, which was the forecourt of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), to grace the occasion.
Briefing a section of the Tema press, Dr. Kaicoo, a veteran medical doctor who has made a huge name for himself as far as Tema is concerned, said the church had been organising health programmes, but this time, they decided to organise a blood donation exercise.
“We, at the Methodist Church here in Tema, have a programme we do every year on health.
Today, we decided to do blood donation to help fill the National Blood Bank at Korle-Bu,” Dr. Kaicoo revealed.
He disclosed that they were aware that medical institutions like the Tema General Hospital, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital among others were always in need of blood, because of the increasing in the number of patients who needed blood.
“It is against this backdrop that we decided to partner the National Blood Bank to organise this blood donation exercise to help stock the national blood reserve,” he said, adding, “This is the fifth time we are organising such an exercise.”
Dr. Kaicoo continued that even though they were okay with the turnout for the exercise, they would have been more grateful if more people could have turned up to donate blood for this very important cause, because Ghana needs more blood.
He explained that they were hopeful that by the time they close the programme, they would be able to reach their set target, which is 100 pints of blood.
He called on all Ghanaians, who are 17 years and above, to endeavour to freely donate blood towards helping people who would need it when the need arises.
Dr. Kaicoo said before blood is taken from someone, they would check the pressure, weight and all the necessary areas, after which it will be taken to the laboratory for investigation to see if it is infected with any disease, before continuing with the process.
He said it was very important that we store enough blood, because people get involved in fatal accidents and are rushed to hospitals and other health facilities to be saved, and if there was no blood in stock, then we would lose so many of our kindred.
He stated: “Others have sicklings, anemia and a host of other sicknesses who need blood to stay alive, and if we are unable to get it for them, then most of us will die, hence the need to organise such exercises to cater for such eventualities.”
He called on all Ghanaians to endeavour to know their blood and Hepatitis ‘B’ status.
He advised all and sundry to shake away the fear element that grips them any time they decide to donate blood to save lives, as they would be saving the lives of helpless people.
Mr. John Ahadjei, deputy blood donor organiser, who led the team from the National Blood Bank to the programme, called on the youth of this country to take blood donation as their civic responsibility, and ensure that they do it as often as they can, to help save lives.
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