Africa-Press – Uganda. The Uganda Blood Transfusion Services (UBTS) has asked organisations, which organise blood donation drives in Kampala, to extend the services to other parts of the country.
According to Dr Dorothy Kyeyune Byabazaire the executive director of UBTS, this will help meet the rising demand in the regions where the government is constructing new blood banks to support regional referral hospitals.
“We have come to appreciate our partners Grant Thornton who have been mobilising blood donors for us since 2015. We have partnered with them to support the regional blood banks to gain capacity to collect blood to support the regional referral hospitals,” Dr Kyeyune said in an interview last Friday.
She said currently, there are five blood banks in Gulu, Mbale, Nakasero, Mbarara and Fort Portal, and the government is constructing new ones in Jinja, Moroto Masaka, Arua and Hoima to serve regional referral hospitals.
On Friday, Dr Kyeyune and a group of her staff visited the Grant Thornton offices on Lugogo Bypass in Kampala to extend their appreciation to the company for the record 1,200 blood units, which it managed to collect during a two-day donation drive recently.
During the same donation drive, the company also donated 100 beds to Uganda Cancer Institute and launched its environmental campaign of greening Lugogo Bypass.
According to Mr Anil Patel, the Country Manager Grant Thornton, on September 22 and 23, they sent out all their staff to mobilise Ugandans to donate blood at the City Square, Wandegeya and their offices where they collected over 1,200 blood units.
“We have been carrying out blood donation camps since 2015. This time we mobilised people on the streets to donate. This comes from our love and we did a great job with 130 people. It means it brought collaboration among us and all of us will become better and spiritual,” he said.
He added that as a company, they have offered to landscape Lugogo bypass to demonstrate to the public the importance of living in an environment with trees. They are also running a practical skills development academy for university graduates.
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