NATIONAL Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) Coordinator, Ms. Shameeza Mangal has said, in this New Year, the quest to increase the number of voluntary donors will continue with increasing emphasis on group drives. “We want to have more commitments for blood drives,” she said, disclosing that Guyana Red Cross Society (GRCS), with its once monthly contribution, is the most recent to support the Blood Bank.
GRCS made a collection on Tuesday and 25 units were collected. The donations from six other volunteers were deferred for undisclosed reasons.
GRCS is targeting 10 percent of the national 10,000 units as its 2011 contribution.
It said, in a statement: “This is very ambitious, but possible with your assistance. To help enable us to reach our target, we need to promote, recruit and continue to retain our donors.”
The GRCS guiding theme is ‘Pump up the volume, bringing in more donors in 2011’.
Meantime, Mangal said NBTS is still encouraging people to use its walk-in donor services.
Voluntary givers are welcomed at all five sites nationwide, NBTS headquarters in Georgetown, West Demerara Regional, New Amsterdam, Suddie and Linden hospitals.
Persons requiring further information can telephone number 227-0418.