By Ivy Makwale

Lilongwe, February 25, Mana: Malawi Blood Transfusion Services (MBTS) has pleaded for more blood donation in referral and district hospitals across the country, saying demand for blood products has risen recently.

In an interview with Malawi News Agency, MBTS Spokesperson responsible for the north, Mphatso Bazare, said rainy seasons largely come with more road accidents and diseases which compromise blood supply in hospitals.

“Even though right now we are able to supply 100 per cent of the demand, we need more blood products in central hospitals because they conduct more surgeries which require blood and its related components,” said Bazare.

‘’District hospitals are supplied with 80 per cent of the demand since they refer patients to central hospitals, but still they also need more blood supply because a lot of accidents are occurring due to poor weather conditions in the rainy season,’’ he further explained.

According to Bazare, children and pregnant women are the most vulnerable groups of people that are at high risk of losing their lives due to malaria and anaemia, hence the need for more blood products.

He said the demand for blood is also high during rainy season because of the conducive conditions for the bleeding of plasmodium which causes malaria and attacks the red blood cells.

“As a result, we have more cases of anaemia, especially among expectant women and children below five years of age,’’ said the Northern Region MBTS spokesperson.

Commenting on MBTS’s call for blood donation, Malawi Equity Health Network (MEHN) Executive Director, George Jobe, said MBTS needs support from the public because major hospitals across the country are in dire need of blood products due to work overload.

“This is a genuine call because there have been situations where a lot of lives have been lost because blood was not available.

“…for instance, someone with a relation who was supposed to deliver through a caesarean section, upon arrival at the hospital, was told the facility had no blood and in the process the life of a mother and that of an unborn child were lost,” said Jobe.

He said it should be appreciated that there is great need to have blood in our blood banks across the country,” he said.

The MEHN official, therefore, urged Malawians to go and donate blood to save lives of innocent children below five years of age as well as expectant women who are also in need of blood in times of delivery.

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