Though findings from the World Health Organization indicate that millions of lives are saved annually through blood transfusion, the situation is different in Ghana as the National Blood Service and Blood Banks in hospitals across the country have challenges getting blood for patients.
This and many other factors have resulted in precious lives perishing during childbirth and road crash cases. Patients who arrive in most hospitals across the country in need of blood lose their lives due to the non-availability of blood supply.
It was to help address such cases that the MTN Ghana Foundation through its health focus instituted the annual “Save A Life Blood Donation” on the 14th of February each year.
According to the Human Resource Officer of MTN in charge of Southern Ghana, Mrs. Regina Arkaifie, the donation was undertaken in all 16 regions nationwide. She said the move was one of the ways that the MTN intends to show love to all in the country during the celebration of this year’s month of love.
Mrs. Regina Arkaifie disclosed that the donation that has since its inception in 2011 donated over 29 thousand units of blood to save precious lives in the country. She revealed that unlike the start of the donation which saw only staff of the MTN donating to the National Blood Service and Blood Banks in hospitals across the country, this year’s donation saw all the 16 regions in the country partaking in the donation exercise.
Mrs. Regina Arkaifie noted that the MTN Foundation sees health as one of its three portfolios. Hence it is committed to providing resources to promote access to quality healthcare delivery in the country. She cited the construction and furnishing of a Blood Bank in 2021 for the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital as one of the importance that the MTN Foundation attaches to quality healthcare delivery in the country. She also identified how the MTN was adjudged the highest corporate blood donor in 2013 and the second highest blood donor in 2015, as ample evidence to support the importance that the MTN attaches to supporting blood banks in all hospitals in the country.
She was optimistic that the donation would help curb problems associated with maternal mortality and death from road crashes.
Places in the Central Region where the MTN Foundation Save Life Blood Donation exercise took place included the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, the Winneba SHS, the Academy of Christ the King, the UCC Medical Science, the Ankaful Nursing Training School, and the UEW North Campus. Mrs. Regina Arkaifie identified certificates of acknowledgment for all donors as one unique aspect of this year’s blood donation. She used the occasion to plead with all in the country to emulate the MTN Foundation’s sign of love to the citizenry by instituting life-saving measures to save precious lives from perishing.
