Jela Development Initiative (JDI) a non-profit organisation has appealed to the public to donate blood in order to address shortage of blood supply in hospitals and healthcare facilities across the region.
The group made the appeal on Saturday in Abuja during a blood donation drive themed “Be a hero, donate blood and save lives, your blood donation today is someone’s lifeline”.
Mrs Angela Ochu-Baiye, the CEO of JDI said that the urgent need for increased blood donations to support patients in critical conditions cannot be overemphasized.
The CEO represented by Ms Oluchi Ihezie programmes Assistant JDI also said that Blood donation is a selfless act that can truly make a difference in someone’s life.
“We also realize that lots of people do not have access to blood because of the cost of blood so we go all out to encourage voluntary blood donation,” she said.
Ihezie added that there is high demand for blood in our nation, continent and across the globe.
“A lot of patients need blood due to the blood loss during incident,
“There are also lots of cancer patients undergoing treatment treatment that require blood transfusion either as a response to medication, chemotherapy or radiotherapy that they undergo,
“Simply because the medication drives their blood levels so low that in order to survive, they need blood,”she said.
Also speaking, Mrs Omotayo Ottun, Donor Recruiter National Blood Service Commission (NBSC) in her remarks, emphasized on the need for blood donation in order to save lives.
“Blood donation give you free access to medical checkups because there is going to be a lot of checks before the donation takes place.
“The main targets of the donation is the excess blood in your system, which your body system is actually not using a sachet of blood can save three people.
“Donations also help to produce new red blood cells and makes them more active in your system, it helps burn calories and also regulates the heart effectively,”Ottun said.
Rrt. Theophilus Apeh, representing the Rotary Club of Abuja Federal, expressed gratitude to all blood donors for their invaluable contributions to this humanitarian endeavor.
He also urged the relevant authorities to ensure that donated blood reaches patients in need without imposing any financial burdens.
“I believe that since am donating my blood for free then it should be given for free without charge but if there is need for charges because of the screening that will be carried out on the blood, it should be minimized,”Apeh said.
Ms. Sarafina Christopher a donor expressed her excitement towards participating in saving patients by donating blood for the very first time.
“I had a lot of fears stemming from a negative preconception about blood donation but am glad I overcame it and donated my blood after series of tests were carried out to make sure am fit and fortunately I had a lot of blood to offer,”she said.
