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The National Blood Services Zimbabwe (NBSZ) says it has enough blood stocks on standby for emergencies during the festive season.
NBSZ corporate affairs manager Esther Masundah said since the start of the festive season, they collected more than 4, 000 pints of blood and were sitting on one week’s supply.
She said the blood stocks were enough to cater for any emergencies but called on members of the public to continue donating blood.
“We have one week’s supply of blood and we are happy that we have been able to meet demand during this festive season so far as we supplied all hospitals. We have collected 4, 000 pints so far but most of it has been consumed,” said Masundah.
She said NBSZ resumed collection of yesterday adding that demand was high for blood group O, whose composition constitutes 50 percent of the country’s population.
“We still need more blood group O which is in high demand. We are calling upon more donors to come forward. We still need more blood because people are still on the road travelling back to work, some into the country or outside and fatalities are likely to occur,” said Masundah.
She also said more blood was also needed for maternal use.
“Blood Group O is a universal blood group with 50 percent of the population being blood group O.
“An O donor can give to all blood groups but when they need blood, they can only receive from an O donor.
The O blood group is also the blood group with the highest demand from the health institutions,” said Masundah.
She said in early January 2014, NBSZ will conduct Community Blood Drives aimed at taking blood drives to the community and reaching out to more adults.
With road accidents related accidents during the festive season so far being reduced to 461 (81 deaths) compared to 669 accidents (144 deaths) in 2012, the NBSZ has been left with a considerable amount of blood because of reduced demand.
Online Reporter