As Valentine’s Day celebrations unfolded across the country, MTN Ghana turned the season of love into a life-saving mission, targeting the collection of at least 7,000 pints of blood nationwide to replenish critical blood banks.
In the Central Region, the telecommunications giant organised donation exercises at the Academy of Christ the King Senior High School in Cape Coast, Kwegyir Aggrey Senior High/Technical School in Anomabo and the Winneba Nursing Training College in Winneba. Blood collected from the three centres will support the blood banks of the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital and the Winneba Trauma and Specialist Hospital.
The annual “Save A Life” campaign, which has run for 15 years, is aimed at addressing persistent blood shortages that often lead to preventable deaths in emergency situations.
Madam Cynthia Mills, Economic Empowerment Advisor of the MTN Ghana Foundation, said the intervention was informed by the recurring distress calls from hospitals over critically low blood supplies.
“The blood bank is always short of blood and has been calling for support to replenish it. So, it is our Corporate Social Responsibility of supporting the blood bank and supporting mother Ghana,” she stated.
She encouraged Ghanaians not to limit blood donation to the Valentine season but to make it a regular practice, noting that individuals could voluntarily walk into health facilities to donate.
At the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital Blood Bank, staff described the situation as precarious. Mr Samuel Odua Quarmyne indicated that available stock could only cater for a few emergency cases, explaining that blood has a shelf life of just 35 days and therefore requires constant replenishment.
He urged citizens to donate at least once a year, adding that healthy donors could give blood every four months and benefit from free health screening.
Mr Quarmyne also dismissed public misconceptions that donated blood was sold to patients, clarifying that hospitals only charged a subsidised processing fee to cover mandatory screening for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis and HIV.
He commended MTN Ghana for its decade-long support to the hospital, including infrastructural assistance to the blood bank department, describing the partnership as crucial to sustaining emergency healthcare delivery in the region.
