The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Mbale Regional Blood Bank has started a door-to-door campaign to request good samaritans to donate blood because of shortage. The regional blood bank has been struggling to collect blood since the closure of schools on March 18, 2020.
The blood bank only collects up to 40 units of blood currently compared to an average of 180 units the bank used to collect daily before the lockdown.
Dr Ahmed Bumba, the Principal Medical Officer in Charge of Mbale Regional Blood Bank explains that schools have been the biggest source of blood donors and their closure because of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the blood collection campaign hard.
Dr Bumba said that they have split the three teams that were collecting blood in the region into 15 smaller groups that will be moving to rural areas in the search of blood donors. He says that they have started rationing the little available blood and cautioned health facilities to only handle emergency cases because the demand for blood keeps increasing.
Dr Emmanuel Tugayineyo, the Director of Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, says 90 percent of blood donors in eastern Uganda are students. Tugayinayo urged members of the public to embrace the blood donation campaign at different centres to save lives of those that need transfusions.
Mbale District Health Officer Dr Jonathan Wangisi says the blood bank has cautioned health centres to use blood sparingly because they are experiencing a shortage.
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