The Gold Fields Ghana Foundation (GFGF) has sponsored a blood donation exercise organised by Firm Health Ghana Foundation at Tarkwa in the Western Region. The mining company expended GH¢70,000.00 on the blood donation exercise, which led to the collection of 1,000 pints last Friday.
The event, dubbed “A thousand gifts of life”, was held at the Tarkwa Senior High and Fiaseman Senior High Schools which attracted voluntary donors, community members, and students.
The Medical Superintendent of the Bogoso Government Hospital, Dr. Joseph Darko, explained to the media that blood was key to critical health care and emergencies, saying: “We want to ensure that every health facility had enough stock at the blood bank.”
He indicated that for one person to require, at least, five pints of blood at a time meant that the stock would not be enough to go round.
“We see people coming every day and dying because we don’t have blood at the bank, and it’s very traumatic. A pregnant woman was referred from a community health center for delivery, but died. Her hemoglobin was 0.5 percent,” he told the media.
“So the question is, can we continue in this way? Tarkwa and environs need about 2,400 pints of blood every year. You organise blood donation campaigns and get 120 pints. This is not enough for emergencies; we need to save lives. Demand is higher than supply, and the burden can’t be on relatives.”
Dr. Darko, who is also the Director of Medical Services, Firm Health Ghana Foundation, continued that, most of the times health facilities in Tarkwa rely on Accra or Takoradi for blood supplies, crossing bad road and spending long hours.
For this reasons, the Foundation organised the blood donation drive with the 1,000 pints target to satisfy the needs of patients, and was glad the Gold Fields Ghana Foundation joined the campaign.
He indicated that one critical part of the drive was to generate data on the blood collected, so that the health professionals were assured of where to get the blood group they needed, and also reduce the burden on relatives, who were at the mercy of “goro” boys.
Dr. Darko noted, however, that the dominant blood group was 0 positive, but that of 0 negative was uncommon, adding that, the data would be analysed to see where the concentration was for professionals to act accordingly during emergencies.
He said, knowing the concentration for the blood groups in the system also promoted usage, adding: “We will meet with all the laboratory experts and see what we do with data on blood bank so that we can save lives.”
“This project is going to serve Tarkwa and Bogoso hospitals, and even Takoradi. We want to create the impression that we can do it and save lives. Until it happens to you or a relative, you will not know the importance of blood. Western Region is rich in resources and activities impact on our development.”
Dr. Darko argued, however, that, the Appiatse and Shama explosions should serve as reminders that care managers were ready at all times to handle emergencies, stressing: “We don’t have to wait, and that’s the thousand gifts we offer with this drive, and also to change the mindset.”
The Executive Secretary of GFGF, Abdel- Razak Yakubu, described the enthusiasm of the donors at the centers as very encouraging and believed that, the vision of the Foundation to improve critical health care and emergencies had been met.
“We want to take the lead in safety and every emergency. This should not be a one-off culture. We are really happy that together we’ve made it. We have supported a worthy cause with the investment GH¢70,000.00,” he assured.
The Operations Director of Firm Health Ghana, Dr. Sylvester Akpah, said: “We will continue with awareness creation for people to donate blood voluntarily, because we need to stock our blood banks. Our partnership with Gold Fields will be sustained.”
