Lagos – No fewer than 20 staff members of the Lagos office of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday donated blood to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH)’s blood bank for those in need.
The donation was part of the public awareness and enlightenment on blood-donation drive organised by LUTH’s Haematology and Blood Transfusion Unit.
Mr Adebayo Martins, a donation officer, who led the team to NAN office, said that 19 pints of blood were donated by the staff.
Martins said that the exercise was a way of encouraging people to cultivate the habit of donating blood voluntarily to those in need.
He said that the blood donated would be beneficial to both patients and the donors in many ways.
“We are here to help people, we have over 900 beds, where patients are lying helpless and in need of blood.
“When one donates blood, it serves as a way of doing check-up, because the donor’s body pressure will be checked before he or she will be allowed to perform the exercise.
“His blood will be screened to ascertain that it is free of hepatitis, HIV and other ailments,’’ he said.
Martins said that blood donation was also a way of giving back to the society and saving the lives of those who were on the sick beds in the hospitals especially, at LUTH.
He said that the public should be enlightened about how hospitals especially LUTH disbursed blood voluntarily donated to it.
“Many people have not cultivated the culture of donating blood due to their belief that it will affect their health or that the hospital is going to sell it.
“Most of the time we use blood donated for emergencies, because the blood donated by relatives of patients are, sometimes, not useful.
“Some people believe the hospital sells blood donated to it and also that the hospital asks donors to pay for blood they have donated or asks patients to pay for them .
“The money the hospital asks from patients or donors in this case is for the screening of the blood donated, which is N6,000,’’ he said .
Martins said that the hospital used the amount to screen blood donated by family members of patients to ascertain that they did not contain any diseases or impurities.
“We have had cases in the past when such donated blood were not usable after screening,“ he said.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
He, however, appealed to the public to participate in blood donation, in order to save lives.
Also, Mr Joe Bankole, Executive Director as well as the Head of Lagos Operations and Mrs Kate Popoola, the Director of Marketing in NAN, Lagos office, appealed to the staff to assist those in need by donating blood voluntarily.
Mrs Millicent Ifeanyinchukwu, who donated blood advised the team to visit more organisations to enlighten people on the importance of voluntary blood donation.
“This is my first time of donating blood and I am very happy to be part of this move that saves the life of other people.
“It is necessary for us to encourage such programme as part of giving back to the society, so more organisations should be visited to get them informed on the importance, “she said.
Also, Mr Oladapo Udom, another first-time donor, said that it was a privilege for him to have participated in the exercise, knowing that it would one day save a life.
Udom, however, said that he experienced dizziness after he had donated the blood.
“I shall maintain a balanced diet that will replenish the system,’’ he said.
Mrs Ngozi Njoku, another donor, advised Nigerians to make voluntary blood donation a habit, because it could help to rejuvenate the body.
“Blood donation is a form of humanitarian service which every healthy Nigerian must endeavour to embrace, “ she said. (NAN)
