Lagos Seeks 260,000 Blood Units to Meet Demand

Lagos Seeks 260,000 Blood Units to Meet Demand

Segun James

The Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service, Bodunrin Osikomaiya, has said the state’s blood bank will need over 260,000 units of blood to meet the growing demand for blood transfusion.

Osikomaiya said the state had less than 10 per cent of voluntary donors, saying over 90 per cent of blood units were sourced from replacement donors who had a high risk of transfusions transmissible infections such as HIV, hepatitis C and syphilis.

She added that voluntary blood donation would save lives and bring to the barest minimum the number of deaths related to loss of blood.

 “At least, 260,000 units of blood yearly are required to meet our blood transfusion demand. This is according to the WHO estimate that blood donation from at least one to two per cent of the population is needed to meet their blood needs.

“This is why we need residents to donate voluntarily to meet the demand and save precious lives. The crux of our plan is to increase the availability of safe blood by promoting voluntary blood donation, reducing activities of commercial blood touts and retaining already recruited voluntary blood donors for sustained blood supply.”

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