Story by Fairstars Mukungurutse
ZIMBABWE is running short of Blood Group O, with the National Blood Service Zimbabwe (NBSZ) confirming they are left with just three days’ supply.
Easter and Independence holidays typically bring an increased risk of road traffic accidents, which in turn raises the demand for blood transfusions. With these holidays fast approaching, the NBSZ has raised a red flag on the looming shortage of Blood Group O.
“At the moment, NBSZ is sitting on about 1 500 units of blood but out of these, about 450 of them are blood group O. Blood group O units are enough to cover us for the next three days because we normally use an average of 167 units per day,” NBSZ’s Chief Executive Officer, Ms Lucy Mary Marowa said.
According to the NBSZ, every person will most likely need blood transfusion in their lifetime, hence blood donation is a collective responsibility.
“We are urging blood donors to come in and donate so that we can get to five days cover for the blood group ‘O’. As we approach the Easter and Independence holidays, we have lined up several high-yielding panels between now and the closure of schools, meaning our teams are approaching boarding schools and also day schools to collect blood from our students.
“We are also approaching the community blood drives which are the usual galas that are in the communities as well as faith-based organisations and tertiary institutions. We are urging people to come in their numbers to give blood, particularly the blood group O donors,” she stated.
Road traffic accidents often contribute to the high blood demand, hence calls for motorists to also exercise caution during the festive season.
