The Zambia National Blood Transfusion Services (ZNBTS) has said that the Copperbelt Province has a blood deficit of 10,000 units, with increased road traffic accidents, among other factors, being cited as one of the triggers for the spike in the demand for blood.
ZNBTS regional manager Masiku Phiri said his organisation needed at least 30,000 units of blood for it to be self-sufficient and working on boosting the reserves.
“The demand for blood in the province has increased due to the increase in road traffic accidents. There are also a lot of people, such as young children, pregnant women and accident victims that need blood,” he said.
Dr Phiri said this during a blood donation session at the Dangote Cement Plant in Masaiti District during the week where he thanked the employees for helping to boost the national blood bank.
He said the gesture by employees at the cement manufacturing company would help the institution reach the target of 30,000 units.
Dangote Cement chief executive officer Desmond Maharaj said the blood donation was part of the corporate social responsibility of serving communities.
Mr Maharaj said management was sensitising workers on the importance of donating blood and they were willing to donate on a quarterly basis.
….trying to take advantage of the carnage…the real reason is paramedic poor response time…infact its none existence…
@ Scrutinizer, what they are talking about are the reasons for a shortfall in blood; what you have highlighted is the reason for high fatalities amongst accident victims. The main reason for shortfalls in blood supply is high HIV/AIDS rates. A lot of people are scared of donating blood because they will have to know their HIV status and discard rate of donated blood is very high as a lot of blood that is donated is found to be infected.
….my apologies ba Mwansa wesu…an over sight on my part….
As usual, African scientist thrive on theory and do nothing to research on new and safer methods of handling issues, while their friends in more advanced countries have welcomed bloodless surgery and are working hard to advance on it, here we are crying about lack of donated blood. Ine uluse ku bufontini ubu!