Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Namibian Blood Transfusion Service (NamBTS) has had a successful year despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
This was announced by NamBTS marketing manager Zita Tobin at the annual general meeting held earlier this week in Windhoek.
According to Tobin, during the financial year from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022, NamBTS received 41 734 blood donations, an increase of 9,5% from the previous year.
Of these, 90% were whole blood, 9% were apheresis plasma, and 1% were apheresis platelets.
“The Namibian population’s blood donation rate was 14,1 units per 1 000 persons of the population, a slight increase of 4% from the previous year,” she said.
Tobin said the World Health Organisation reports that the blood donation rate for most African countries is between 5,0 and 7,0 units per 1 000 persons of the population, while South Africa’s rate is 18,0.
She said although the level of blood donations in Namibia is commendable, it still falls short of meeting the country’s demand for blood.
“The demand for blood supplied for transfusion in state hospitals increased by 9,6% and there was a slight increase of 0,1% in private hospitals during the period under review,” she said.
Tobin said NamBTS has implemented measures to recruit new donors, especially group O donors, retain regular and faithful donors, and reactivate lapsed or once-off donors to become regular donors.
“The main factor to the increase of blood usage was an increase in blood requests for casualties like motor accidents stab wounds and maternity usage.
The increase in blood transfusion is also because of cancer cases, as well as for planned surgical procedures,” Tobin said.
The decline in Covid-19 cases and easing of restrictions year allowed hospitals to shift their attention from Covid-19 and focus on other medical conditions that require or need more blood, she said.
“In this regard, I want to emphasise the fact that despite this high blood usage, there was always sufficient blood available to meet the increased demand and this was possible due to the unwavering commitment of our blood donors.
“Our assessment indicates that blood demand will continue to increase by average 5% to 7% annually.”
Tobin thanked all donors and encouraged more individuals to donate blood.
“I would like to wholeheartedly thank all donors for making time and blood available! You are not only donating blood, but you are donating blood to save countless lives,” she said.
Present at the meeting was the marketing supervisor, Titus Shivute, who encouraged Namibians to donate blood to save lives.
“Similar to normal donations such as the whole blood donation, we also have other types of donations here including plasma, platelets and double red cells,” Titus said.
For More News And Analysis About Namibia Follow Africa-Press
