NATIONAL Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) Coordinatior, Ms. Shameeza Mangal made another appeal yesterday for donors to join the ‘Good Samaritan’ programme, which aims an encouraging Guyanese to donate voluntarily.

She said there will always be an omnipresent need and she directed the appeal to private hospitals, particularly.

Mangal said those eligible to give the gift of life must be 17 years old or older, weigh 110 pounds or more and healthy, in accordance with the Ministry of Health objective to realise 100 per cent voluntary donors by 2010.

To this end, she said, the Health Ministry, through NBTS, continues to seek walk-in volunteer donations daily.

However, Mangal called for greater participation from private health institutions.

She disclosed that NBTS has met the required units this week and they have already been tested and allocated to meet needs.

But the coordinating centre has a goal to maintain a weekly buffer stock of 170 units, less of which has been acquired recently.

Because of that situation, Mangal said the agency is encouraging private entities to collaborate in the quest to boost donor recruitment.

She said NBTS services will be at the disposal of private health institutions to facilitate collection and screening of blood garnered through their efforts to organise collecting drives.

Mangal acknowledged that, presently, not all such facilities have the capacity to screen blood, for the diseases which they are required to do testing.

“The NBTS is the only facility in Guyana that can test for all the diseases that the units are required to be screened for,” she admitted, listing those ailments as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis, Malaria, Filaria, Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV), Human T-lymphotropic Virus (HTLV) and Chagas.

Mangal, emphasising the importance of donating blood voluntarily, said: “We hope people understand that it is about saving lives and, hopefully, recognise what a privilege it is to be a donor.”

The urging for Guyanese and private health clinics to collaborate with the Good Samaritan was first made. last December, by Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie

Ramsammy who pointed out that collaborations between public and private entities were imperative for the delivery of quality health care.

Volunteers are welcome at all six sites nationwide, in New Amsterdam, Berbice; Suddie, Essequibo Coast; Linden, Upper Demerara River; West Demerara Regional Hospital, West Coast Demerara and NBTS headquarters in Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) compound. (VANESSA NARINE)