-over 1,850 units collected in first quarter
-voluntary donors still needed to meet 9,000 units target for 2011
BRINGING a fitting end to Nurses Week, several senior nurses from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) on Monday donated blood at the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS).
NBTS Coordinator, Ms. Shameeza Mangal, welcomed the initiative and stated that voluntary donors are still needed to ensure that the blood bank has enough blood in the case of emergencies.
According to her, voluntary givers are welcomed at all five sites nationwide: the NBTS headquarters in Georgetown, West Demerara Regional, New Amsterdam, Suddie and Linden hospitals.
“So far, for the first quarter, we have collected over 1,850 units with 78 percent of that collection coming from all the blood banks. We fell short of our collection by 390 units for the first quarter,” Ms. Mangal said.
The NBTS Coordinator added that there are not many blood drives planned for this month, only one major drive, which is the annual blood drive held by the Saraswati Vidyan Niketan School, a private secondary school at Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara.
She added that the target collection for 2011 is 9,000 units, of which 90 percent is expected to come from voluntary donors.
“We need to collect at least 750 units a month from the blood banks,” Mangal said.
She explained that for there to be adequate supply, the country needs between four and eight percent of the adult population to come on board with the Good Samaritan Programme and become regular voluntary donors.
Currently Guyana has about 1.5 percent, but Guyana’s Good Samaritan Programme, the flagship blood donor recruitment programme, has been making progress to increase that number.
The programme is designed to encourage all adult Guyanese to become a blood donor and allows each Guyanese to contribute to saving lives. Through this programme, the Health Ministry aims to have more that 7,000 Guyanese becoming regular blood donors.
If this target is met and donors give blood twice a year, Guyana can be assured of 12,000 units of blood.
Persons requiring further information can call 227-0418.