KAMPALA – As part of their corporate social responsibility, Uganda Development Bank – UDB, American Tower Corporation – ATC Uganda, and Minet have launched a blood donation drive.
Joshua Allan Mwesiga, Director Strategy and Corporate Affairs at UDB noted that as bank, they are mandated to inspire development but to achieve that, the population must be healthy.
He told the press that they realized that one of the constraints of the health system is inadequate blood.
“So we aim to collect as much blood as we can from our staff, customers and the general public because blood is critical in addressing maternal health, neonatal health, and those involved in accidents. We encourage every member of the public to participate in this call.”
Ms. Dorothy Semanda, CEO ATC Uganda noted, “Blood can only be got from human beings, we cannot invent it from elsewhere. We need to understand the importance of aiding anemic children and everyone who needs blood.”
According to her, currently, the Uganda Blood Bank is only able to collect 300,000 units annually which is less than the World Health Organisation-recommended amount.
“We are supposed to collect a standard of 1% of the country’s population, meaning we should be collecting 500,000 units of blood annually. We are less by 200,000 units and the mandate is upon us to donate blood and save lives.”
Mr. Ariho Franco from Uganda Blood Bank commended the partners for the drive intended to save lives.
“The need for blood is higher because the causes are there, ranging from accidents, mothers who lose blood while giving birth, cancer patients among others.”
At this time, he explained that the shortage is high since the students who are easy to mobilise and donate are off for holidays.
Ariho commented on the claims of selling blood to the patients and explained that at times, it is not necessarily paying for blood but for other related services.
“In most private health facilities, they charge service fees. Before they give you blood, they check your blood group, charging you shs30000 to shs50000. They have to do cross-matching at a cost. You are also charged for a giving set, at the end of the day, someone is charged like shs60,000 and if they are not explained, they think they have been sold blood.”
However, he admitted some patients are cheated in the name of transport fees which is incorrect.
Who is eligible to donate?
Ariho explained that anybody from 17 years to 50 years (females) and 60 years (males), very healthy (no disease) and weighing 50kgs and above is eligible to donate blood.
He noted that anyone who has been donating is given an extra five years to continue donating after the mandatory maximum age because their bodies can easily regenerate blood unlike those who haven’t been donating.
