MTN re-stocks blood banks in UW major hospitals

Wa, Feb 15, – Mobile Telecommunication giant MTN Ghana has collected 290 pints of blood to replenish blood banks in Upper West Regional Hospital in Wa and St. Joseph Hospital in Jirapa.

The exercise took place concurrently in the Wa campus of University for Development Studies (UDS) and the Jirapa Hospital, where donors gathered to give off their blood to save lives.

Upper West Territory Sales Controller of MTN, Mr Obed Adu Amankwa, told GNA in Wa that 124 pints were collected from the UDS campus while the Jirapa Hospital centre gathered 166.

The donation exercise formed part of “Save a Life” campaign spearheaded by MTN Foundation for the past eight years.

Mr Amankwa said over the years, the Foundation received several calls from hospital blood banks in the Region appealing for help to collect more blood to re-stock the banks and help save lives, especially during emergency situations.

He described blood as life and that MTN believed the best gift to Ghanaians on the occasion of Valentine’s Day was the gift of life.

He said it was based on that tenet the exercise was organised nationwide to accumulate several pints of blood to refill the blood banks to enable them continue saving lives.

Though, he noted that organizers could not hit their target of 350 pints of blood for the Region, the “Save a life” campaign exercise was largely successful.

Mr. Sylvester Biekpe, a Medical Laboratory Scientist, at the Upper West Regional Hospital explained how important and critical blood was to human life, saying it was the most expensive drug or commodity one could give to a patient especially on a Valentine’s Day.

Mr. Biekpe who is also the Blood Donor Organiser for the Hospital added that maternal and emergency cases required blood urgently and that if it was not readily available at the point of need, it could lead to loss of lives.

Ms Rukaya Alhassan, a Level 300 Student of UDS who participated in the exercise said she was motivated by the objective of the campaign to save life.

“I also took advantage of the opportunity to know my blood group”, she added.

MTN Foundation carried out the exercise in collaboration with UW Regional Hospital, St. Joseph Hospital in Jirapa, UDS Hospital and the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) of UDS.

GNA