Nat'l Blood Bank calls for autonomy

Ghana’s voluntary donation has been rated inadequate[/caption] The National Blood Bank Service has called for a legislative instrument to be passed urgently by Parliament to enable them become an autonomous body in its day-to-day activities. At an annual performance review for 2017, the Chief Executive Officer of the Bank, Dr. Justine K Ansah, said making the service independent would enable them draft sustainable policies at ensuring sufficient blood storage at the blood banks across the nation. The National Blood Bank has rated its 2017 performance as average with hopes of doing better in 2018. At the National Review Performance Summit in Accra, Dr. Ansah said most of their goals for 2017 were not reached, with the current national voluntary donor rate at 36 per cent. It is intriguing how people in Ghana still see blood donation as mythical as only six percent donors for every 1,000 persons has been considered woefully inadequate. “It is unfortunate Ghana is still doing so poor when it comes to blood donation,” Dr Ansah said. Blood experts are convinced the number of benefits one derives from donating blood is enormous to the human health. Dr Justina Ansah agrees with the perception or research that regular blood donors stand a low risk of contracting chronic diseases such as cancer. Once in a life time, the average person is likely to be in need of platelets, plasma or transfusion of blood. Blood transfusion supports a number of treatments at various levels, irrespective of age. By Nhyiraba Akomapa Aggrey|3news.com|Ghana Follow @3Newsgh]]>