… intensifies campaign on blood donation, safe blood transfusion practice
Ajirioghene Imah
Lagos State Government has devised plans on increasing its total number of donated blood which is currently at over 115,000 units to 200,000 units.
This was disclosed by the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr.Olusegun Ogboye.
He stated this, while reviewing scheduled activities lined up by the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service (LSBTS) to commemorate 2023 World Blood Donor Day in Lagos.
According to him, apart from the recorded increase in donated blood to over 115,000 units, the LSBTS has been able to screen 100 percent of all units of blood collected in the State in order to meet its annual blood requirements and the World Health Organsation’s (WHO) recommended estimate of blood requirement per population.
Ogboye noted that the service also produces blood components including Fresh Frozen Plasma, Cryoprecipitates and Platelet Concentrates from 90 percent of voluntarily donated blood with the decentralization of its storage to ensure easy accessibility.
Speaking on scheduled activities for the celebration, the Executive Secretary of LSBTS, Dr. Biodun Osikomaiya explained that the Lagos State Ministry of Health, through the LSBTS, will commemorate WBBD with a three-day event comprising Youth Extravaganza, Lagos State Secondary School Student LSBTS facility tour and Symposium and Scientific Conference.
Osikomaiya explained that a Symposium and Scientific Conference to commemorate World Blood Donor Day will hold on Wednesday, 14th June, 2023 at the Adeyemi-Bero Auditorium in Alausa Ikeja.
While emphasizing the huge demand for blood and the need for voluntary blood donation, Osikomaiya added that about 37% of the population is eligible and clinically fit to donate blood, stressing that someone is always in need of blood every two seconds.
The Executive Secretary noted that eligible citizens can donate blood by walking into any of LSBTS’s dedicated voluntary blood donation centres at General Hospital Lagos and General Hospital Gbagada or the voluntary blood donation centre at the Accident and Emergency Center, located at the old Toll Gate and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja to donate blood at any time.