Chronicle Editor
The National Blood Service Zimbabwe (NBSZ) has collected over 61 000 units of the vital fluid so far as it nears its target of collecting 87 000 units this year, an official has said.
The NBSZ is a non-profit service organisation in Zimbabwe that provides blood related services for transfusion.
Blood supply executive, Menard Mutenherwa in a recent interview with New Ziana said the blood units collected so far are 93 percent of the annual target.
He said NBSZ managed to collect around 20 000 units in Harare, 13 000 in Mutare, 11 500 units in Bulawayo, 9 000 in Masvingo and 6 500 units from Gweru, which is slightly above 61 000 units cumulatively.
“Our blood collection from January to September is at 61 142 units and that is 93 percent of the target we intend to collect this year. We are happy and would like to thank the blood donors for a positive response and willingly donating blood,” he said, adding that the organisation has managed to meet almost all requests received from those needing blood transfusion from hospitals across the country.
Mutenherwa encouraged existing and potential blood donors to continue donating blood in all NBSZ static clinics in Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Masvingo and Gweru.
“Blood donation is key and important to the country’s health delivery system and it can only be obtained from human beings. It is us who can keep the blood bank stocked with adequate blood to give to our relatives and friends,” said Mutenherwa.
He said more donors are found amongst the youths compared to adults and the organisation is doing its best to encourage the adults to donate blood adding that the trend is vice versa on usage as more adults require blood transfusion services than the youths.
To keep blood stock levels adequate, Mutenherwa said the NBSZ has individuals that go out daily, at times including weekends in Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru and Masvingo educating people about the importance, benefits of and reasons for donating blood.
He said there are three types of blood donors namely voluntary non-remunerated, self-donations and directed donations.
The most common and the one that is encouraged is the voluntary non-remunerated blood donor, he said, adding “this constitutes almost 100 percent of our blood donors in Zimbabwe and is the safest and best practice”.
Mutenherwa said the other two types of donors do not help much in terms of the national blood stocks with the directed donation targeted at a specific individual.
New Ziana
Online Reporter