Blood stocks dwindle

Jerry Chifamba

Zimbabwe’s blood bank has reached low levels amid revelations that the most sought-after Blood Group O is out of stock and the country only has blood stocks to last two and a half days, instead of five.

This was highlighted during the World Blood Donor Day commemorations in Kwekwe on Saturday.

National Blood Services Zimbabwe (NBSZ) CEO, Ms Lucy Marowa said they have since embarked on a nationwide campaign to source blood.

“The situation is not well. Under normal circumstances we are looking at having stocks that last five days at any given time. We have since deployed our teams across the country so that we harvest as much blood as we can from donors. Blood is an essential commodity in our everyday lives,” she said.

Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Sleiman Kwidini said as Government they are committed to doing their part to enable the NBSZ to operate at full capacity.

“We are aware of the operational challenges that the NBSZ is facing at the moment,” he said.

“We are going all out to ensure that we increase budget allocations for them to be able to operate at full throttle. People need to learn that donating blood saves lives. We should all go out to help those in need.”