Relevance of emergency blood donation exercise
Following the June 3 disaster in the nation’s capital Accra, and similar occurrences in other parts of the country, there was a passionate appeal for people to donate blood in support of the victims.
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The National Blood Service consequently prepared some centres for the emergency blood donation exercise, and also informed hospitals and clinics with emergency cases to contact the Blood Service immediately for blood supply.
Regular blood donation
This underscores the need to stock blood banks at the various health institutions with blood, through the organisation of regular blood donation by voluntary donors in order to save the lives of many accident victims, sufferers of childhood anaemia and women in labour who suffer bleeding (haemorrhage).
The need for blood in healthcare has made blood donation very relevant. For this reason a day has been set aside for annual activities to bring home to people the relevance of blood donation and the donor of blood.
World Blood Donor Day is celebrated every June 14 to encourage people to donate blood and save lives without asking for anything in return.
The Day serves to raise awareness of the need for safe blood, to raise awareness of the problem of non-availability of blood at blood banks at the various health institutions, and to thank donors worldwide.
Transfusion of blood and blood products helps save millions of lives every year. It can help patients suffering from life-threatening conditions live longer and with higher quality of life. It also supports complex medical and surgical procedures.
As part of World Blood Donor Day, which fell on Sunday, June 14, 2015, the National Blood Service has put together the following stories from beneficiaries of blood transfusion who are expressing their gratitude to the blood donors.
President of blood donors
The President of the National Blood Donors Association of Ghana (NABDAG), Mrs Elizabeth Adase Acotia, who recovered from what she described as “a near-death experience,” after she received blood transfusion, during the birth of her third son, said she decided to head the NGO of voluntary blood donors to dedicate herself to the campaign and sensitise Ghanaians to donate blood freely and voluntarily to avoid needless and avoidable deaths.
Elaborating on her story, she said on February 25, 2003, she went to a reputable private hospital in Accra for the birth of her third son, as a healthy patient, who had taken her antenatal appointments very seriously and had a good HB (Blood level) before going into labour.
Life-threatening complications
However, she developed unforseen, life-threatening complications during the delivery of her son, as according to the doctor, a rare case of Amniotic Fluid Embolism had led to primary Post Partum Haemorrhage (PPH).
Doctors decided that she needed immediate surgery to try and correct her problem after other attempts to stop the bleeding had failed and she was losing a lot of blood.
“The hospital had no blood in stock but had plasma, a blood product, and I started to feel dizzy and was passing out but I felt a bit better as they started administering the plasma before going in for the surgery,” she said.
She was sent to the theatre for emergency surgery while her brother, who was a surgeon at the 37 Military Hospital at the time, and her husband made frantic efforts to get the blood to the hospital on time.
“By God’s own grace and infinite mercies, my son and I survived. I was transfused with four pints of blood and even more pints of plasma. I would like to say a big thank you to all voluntary blood donors for saving my life and those of many others,” she said.
In another story, one Ms Linda Osei said she was recently admitted to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Kumasi, for one month and needed to be transfused.
“After the transfusion, my condition improved and I am now being further investigated and treated on outpatient basis,” she said, adding that, “I strongly believe that I could not have survived without the kind support of Voluntary Blood Donors whose donated blood saved my life”.