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Doris Obinna
The Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service (LSBTS), Dr. Bodunrin Osikomaiya has said that the State will require over 260,000 units of blood to meet the growing blood demand for transfusion.
Osikomaiya disclosed that efforts are being intensified by the state government through LSBTS to ensure that all blood for transfusion will be from voluntary blood donors.
Reiterating the commitment of the state government to ensure that only safe blood is available for transfusion in the State, she appealed to residents to donate blood voluntarily in order to meet the growing demand of safe blood for transfusion in the all health facilities in the State.
She said: “The demand for blood is ever present and increasing especially with the growing population of Lagos State. At least, 260,000 units of blood yearly is required to meet our blood transfusion demand and this is according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimate that blood donation from at least one to two per cent of the population is needed to meet their blood needs.
“This is why we need residents to donate voluntarily to meet these demands and save precious lives.”
The Executive Secretary hinted that Lagos State has less than ten per cent of voluntary blood donors stressing that over 90 percent of blood are sourced from replacement donors who according to her, have a higher risk and prevalence of transfusion transmissible infections such as HIV, hepatitis C and syphilis.
Osikomaiya explained that the need to address the issues of commercial blood touts; demand for family replacement of blood at ante natal booking and availability of safe blood for transfusion informed the drive to ensure that 100 per cent of blood for transfusion should be from voluntary blood donors.
“The crux of the plan is to increase availability of safe blood by promoting voluntary blood donation, reducing activities of commercial blood touts and retaining already recruited voluntary blood donors for a sustained blood supply.”
The Executive Secretary posited that creating awareness on the vital role of voluntary blood donation toward achieving the goal of saving lives is very important to completely bring to the barest minimum the number of deaths related to loss of blood.
“We therefore cannot over emphasize the need to ensure availability of blood in our blood banks where patients who require blood transfusion can be readily supplied. That is why we are intensifying our awareness campaign to encourage more voluntary blood donors to join others who give their blood willingly and freely without knowing the recipients”, she added.
While noting that the LSBTS has zero tolerance for transfusion of unscreened and unsafe blood, Osikomaiya assured that no blood will be transfused into a patient unless such blood has been screened, tested and labelled with the Lagos State logo by the screening and certification unit of LSBTS and found to be negative for all transmissible diseases.
