MTN undertakes blood donation exercise in TARSCO

MTN Ghana has undertaken a blood donation exercise in Tarkwa with the aim of restocking the Tarkwa Municipal hospital blood bank.

The exercise took place at Tarkwa Senior High School (TARSCO) in the Western Region, with many students volunteering to donate blood.

Mr. Emmanuel Osei, Head of the Tarkwa Municipal hospital blood bank, told the Ghana News Agency that at the moment, the hospital's bank was in crisis, because they did not have enough blood.

According to him, the hospital was currently embarking on a family replacement system, which he explained was not helping patients who visited the facility.

He said his office had therefore, planned series of voluntary blood donation throughout the year to enable them overcome the challenges.

Mr.Osei commended MTN for coming to their aid, adding that, they intend to collect more than 100 pints of blood in the months ahead.

He called on individuals and corporate bodies to visit the Tarkwa Municipal hospital and donate blood to save lives.

Mr Andy Kwofie, Sales Controller for Western North MTN Ghana said as part of the telecommunication giant, instituted this programme in 2011 to assist general hospitals throughout the country.

"We want to hit over 10,000 pints of blood and if we are able to meet this target, we will set another mile stone for ourselves" he said.

Mr Koffie indicated that MTN had the interest of Ghanaians at heart and would continue to offer this support to the health sector.

He appealed to philanthropists, cooperate bodies and Non-Governmental Organizations to get involved to help MTN exceed the target it had projected.

"MTN has set aside this year for our customers and we intend to go an extra mile to serve them" Mr. Koffie noted.

Master John Ennin, a final year student of TARSCO, said this was the fourth time he was donating blood.

"What motivates me to donate blood is to save lives because someone may be in the hospital who needs blood" he said.