Coronavirus: KATH blood bank in distress after closure of schools, churches

The suspension of school sessions, church services and other social activities by President Nana Akufo-Addo as a mitigating measure against the spread of COVID-19 has started biting hard on the Transfusion Medicine Unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in the Ashanti region as blood stocks are steadily running out.

The unit says the impact of its current situation could be dire if voluntary donors do not step in to donate blood to keep the facility running, since the schools and churches, which contributed up to 80% of bloodstock, have been shut down until further notice.

Head of Blood Donor Recruitment at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital Blood Bank, Kwame Asenso Menso told Kumasi-based Angel FM in an interview that the facility is drifting towards a distress situation.

As a measure to salvage the depleted bloodstock, Mr Asenso Mensah said the facility has been forced to cause relations of patients who urgently need blood to donate to replenish the stock for emergency situations.

“We receive our stock of blood from schools, churches, mosques and other voluntary donors; out of 10 pints of blood received at this unit, 8 are transfused to patients without restocking, so we are really in a distress situation following the closure of schools, churches and mosques”, Mr Asenso said.

Ghana’s situation, since it was first reported less than two weeks ago keeps festering by the day; with 24 confirmed cases and one death in the West African country as at the time of filing this story, there is no end in sight to the restrictions, as government continues to employ even more draconian measures to stop the spread.

All of the country’s borders; land, air and sea have been shut down to all forms of human traffic for the next two weeks; travellers who arrived in the country via the Kotoka International Airport from Saturday night till it was finally locked down last midnight are currently under mandatory quarantine.

The country is also looking up to divinity to intervene as the nation ramps up efforts to defeat the virus by adhering to the safety measures outlined by health professionals.

“Whilst we continue to adhere to these measures, and ramp up our efforts to defeat this virus, I urge all of us, also, to seek the face of the Almighty. So, on Wednesday, 25th March, 2020, I appeal to all Ghanaians, Christians and Muslims, to observe a national day of fasting and prayer. Let us pray to God to protect our nation and save us from this pandemic. I thank the men and women of God who prayed for the nation with me on Thursday, and with the Vice President on Friday, for their intervention”, Nana Akufo Addo said in a televised address on Saturday night.

Ghana trails only Burkina Faso, Senegal and Nigeria on the log of thirteen (13) countries with confirmed cases of the COVID-19 in West Africa.