Saving lives: Now easier thanks to Covid-19 |21 August 2020

The current Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on international travel means that almost every single one of us reading this article have not had our passport stamped in over four months. With this in mind – and a desire to help the community – a group of eighteen volunteers came together to donate blood last Friday.

The volunteers were a varied bunch. There were public servants from the Ministry of Finance, members of NGOs such as SYAH-Seychelles and Global Shapers and swimmers from the Toto Sports Club. Different walks of life, different schedules, different interests, but one simple thing in common, a desire to give back.

“I usually travel regularly so I am rarely ever able to satisfy the criteria of not having travelled within the last four months. When I learnt of this blood drive, I thought this would be the perfect time to donate blood for the first time. Given I won’t be travelling for quite some time with Covid-19, I definitely intend to donate regularly from here on,” said Burny Payet from SYAH-Seychelles.

Another volunteer, Adrian Nanty from Toto Sports Club, stated: “I have always wanted to donate blood, so when my friend approached me to join her on this initiative, I figured this was the ideal opportunity to overcome any discomfort I imagined about the process. The procedure was smooth and took no more than 30 minutes. I am glad I did it, was surprised at how easy it was, and would like to encourage others to do so as well.”

Blood donors are in short supply and blood donations are always required at the Seychelles Hospital. If you would like to donate blood as an individual or organise a blood drive for your organisation, it can be done at the Blood Transfusion Centre of the Seychelles Hospital (very close to ‘Casualty’) which is open on weekdays from 8am to 4pm.

Blood donors must be 18 years old and above, weigh 50kg or more, not suffer from high blood pressure or any chronic disease, have not left the country within the last 4 months, and not had any tattoos or body piercings within the last year. Just show up at the Seychelles Hospital and someone will show you the Blood Transfusion Centre. It is quick, it is simple, it can save a life.

Let us start a trend – initiate a blood drive among your family, friends and colleagues.

As their slogan says, ‘Share a little, care a little, donate blood’.

The accompanying photos show some of the volunteers donating blood (Photo sources: K. Belle).

Contributed by K. Belle