By Gabriel Ewepu, ABUJA
AS the month of August remains unforgettable following the painful death of Dr Vwaere Diaso, a medical doctor who passed away at the General Hospital, Odan, Lagos Island, after an elevator she took crashed from the tenth floor, it was alleged that the non-availability of blood at the general hospital contributed to her death, which the Founder Haima Health Initiative, Bukola Bolarinwa, lamented that poor blood donation remains a tragedy across the country.
Bolarinwa asserted, “This avoidable loss raises extreme concerns over the state of Nigeria’s medical emergency response, even within the hospital premises.
“Although reliable data remains unavailable, stories such as this illustrate that the unavailability of blood significantly contributes to loss of lives during accidents and emergencies in Nigeria.
“Despite several actions from the state government such as blacklisting the facility managers in charge of the hospital and suspension of the General Manager of the Lagos State Infrastructure and Asset Management Agency (LASIAMA), the issue of inadequate blood has not been adequately addressed.
“There are currently no medical alternatives to blood donations for patients in need, especially to replace sudden loss during accidents and emergencies such as that of Diaso.
“Despite its importance to sustaining life, most Nigerians do not voluntarily donate blood.”
Meanwhile, according to her, “Unfortunately, the Nigeria’s National Blood Transfusion Service, NBTC collects only 500,000 pints of blood every year with a shortfall of about 73%-over1.7 million pints of blood.
“This is despite a population of approximately 200 million, out of which over half are young people the best demographic to donate blood.
“This tragedy must be a wake up call for the government to invest in improving the knowledge of voluntary blood donation as part of a systematic overhaul of the healthcare system.
“In addition, community leaders, activists, religious leaders, state assembly members, commissioners and government officials must lead from the front and donate blood themselves.
“They must take on this civic responsibility in order to encourage the general population to also voluntarily donate blood to save lives.”
Source: Vanguard
