NBSZ assures the nation of enough blood stocks
Story by Tarirai Madhuyu
THE National Blood Service Zimbabwe (NBSZ) has assured the nation of enough blood stocks to cater for the country’s requirements.
This comes as the country prepares to celebrate World Blood Donor Day next month with the focus on appreciating donors.
In a media briefing in Harare, this Monday, NBSZ Chief Executive Officer Ms Lucy Marowa revealed that the country is sitting on at least 3 000 units of untested blood units.
“We are operating on a testing and releasing basis. As an organisation we suffered a bit of logistics challenge a few weeks ago when our test kits were stuck in the UAE due to floods. We have piled a lot of blood stocks through the Redan blood drive. We have so far not reached the optimum storage facility but we are working flat out to achieve.
At the moment we are sitting on almost 3000 untested units hence we are not in a panic state because they are enough to last for five days. The ideal situation is that there should be waiting blood in the blood bank rather than testing and releasing because the process might take time for one to acquire,” she said.
Available information shows that the NBSZ collected more than 60 000 units of blood last year with the figure expected to be surpassed this year.
Turning to this year’s World Blood Donor Day celebrations, she highlighted that the focus will be on appreciating donors.
She added, “We are celebrating this day in Midlands at Kwekwe High School on the 15th of June and we will be honouring the donor and adopting a massive blood drive. We just want to honor our blood donors and say thank you for their service for the past 20 years.”
World Blood Donor Day marked on the 14th of June annually is meant to recognise men and women who give their blood free of charge for transfusion.
