Traditional leaders in the country have been urged to take a leading role in making sure that people in their areas are taking part in blood donation activities. Area Development Committee (ADC) chairperson for the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Chamthunya in Balaka district, Mabvuto Bwenzi, made the call after the area (Kamkao) emerged as the highest yielding clinic in the just ended Balaka open days blood donation campaign.
The campaign was organized by the Malawi Blood Transfusion Service (MBTS), Balaka Satellite Depot in the areas of Ulongwe, Mpoto,Utale, Kapire and Kamkao. Kamkao blood donation open day beat its own record of 120 units by registering a total of 160 units of blood in the campaign.
Speaking after the campaign, Bwenzi said he was impressed by the turnout for the exercise. He said, “I am so delighted with the number of people that came to donate blood. On behalf of our T/A, I would like to encourage those that have managed to donate to continue donating blood so that we should save as many lives as possible.”
Bwenzi further urged traditional leaders in the country to lead their subjects in supporting MBTS to enable it to achieve the country’s annual blood requirement of 120,000 units of whole blood.
“Traditional leaders are influential and therefore very crucial in these type of exercises. I would like to urge them (traditional leaders) to help in sensitizing the masses on the importance of voluntary non remunerated blood donation,” he said. One of the blood donors, Luciano Elias, from Group Village Head Lupanga in the area urged fellow young people to take a leading role in blood donation.
On his part, MBTS Assistant Public Relations Officer for Balaka Satellite Depot, McLloyd Kudzingo said the depot will try as much as possible to make sure that hospitals across the region are supplied with enough blood. The Balaka blood donation campaign cohort 2 managed to yield a total of 391 units from a target of 350 units of whole blood representing an achievement rate of 112 percent.