Blood you give could save many lives |20 March 2006

Senior Nursing Officer of the blood transfusion unit, Ilette Esther, said this recently when calling on more people to come forward and donate blood.

Stating that over the last few months blood were not being adequately being replaced, and the blood bank was leaning towards a want for replenishing, Ms Esther said that the situation has worsened with the occurrence of chikungunya.

“Most of the regular donors have been infected with the disease and now they have to wait for three more months before they can continue to perform their voluntary act,” Ms Esther said, adding that “there is no substitute for blood and the only way to get it is from human beings”.

Ms Esther noted that over the last few weeks the blood bank has not been able to have an emergency stock as the demand for blood transfusion is higher than the number of donors per week.

“We have been relying on the patients’ relatives and friends for blood,” Ms Esther added, before advising new blood donors that they must be healthy.