MTN holds blood donation exercise in Bolgatanga

MTN Ghana, in collaboration with Save a Life Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation, and the Upper East Regional Hospital, has organised blood donation exercise in the Bolgatanga and Navrongo municipalities to help save lives.

The exercise, which aimed at motivating people to donate blood to complement the blood stock at the Regional Hospital, was held as part of the Valentine’s Day celebration but was extended to Thursday in Bolgatanga due to the inability of many volunteers to donate.

Mr Richard Asamane, the Upper East Regional Territory Sales Manager of MTN Ghana, said as an agency, MTN begun the blood donation exercise in 2011 as part of its cooperate social responsibility.

He said blood was very crucial to human life to build a healthy human resource to actively participate national development.

He, however, noted that unlike other regions where MTN Ghana was the sole organiser of this exercise, it was partnering the Save a Life Foundation in the Region to ensure a smooth and successful exercise.

Mr Asamane said he was impressed about the huge numbers of volunteers adding; “last year we had about 265 donors but this year we already have more than 300 donors and some are still trooping in.”

He commended the Upper East Regional Hospital for its technical support and urged the public to cultivate the culture of donating blood to enable the Hospital to save more lives.

“This year has been a learning experience going forward. We have organised mini bleeding centres in some of the secondary schools with staff to facilitate the exercise,” he said.

Mr Ibrahim Alhassan Sadick, the Executive Director of the Save a Life Foundation, said blood donation was the NGO’s priority since its inception eight years ago and had collaborated effectively with the Regional Hospital Blood Bank to carry out the exercise.

He hinted that the NGO was strategising to constantly organise similar exercises every year to increase the blood level in the Hospital and appealed to other organisations to it to achieve that objective.

Mrs Hajaratu Issah, the Head of Blood Mobilisation at the Regional Hospital, commended MTN Ghana and the NGO for their support and urged the media to intensify education to enable the public to understand the importance of blood donation.