National Blood Services Zimbabwe (NBSZ) made it known that they are now providing free blood in all government hospitals during a media briefing in the capital today.
NBSZ,Public Affairs Manager Esther Massundah highlighted that free blood will encourage people to donate so that it becomes more accessible and readily available when needed in government hospitals.
“Since July, blood became free for all government public health institutions. However, private health institutions fees are pegged at $120 per unit of blood,” Massundah confirmed.
NBSZ Planning Information and Research Manager Dr Tonderai Mapako said due to the availability of blood reserves, they did not have any challenges in responding to the cyclone Idai disaster in Manicaland.
“Our NBSZ Manicaland was fully stocked so we did not have any problems responding to patients that needed blood transfusions during and after the disaster,” said Dr Mapako.
NBSZ will be commemorating Blood Donor Month in June in which they will provide free awareness on free safe blood.
“Blood has a life span of only 42 days which means that we need a continuous integrated approach to continue getting blood from our donors,” Mapako added.
“Already, six of our blood panels were affected by the cyclone. We were at Charles Luwanga two weeks before the cyclone hit and we came out with 90-100 units of blood which was a positive response. We are doing all we can to assist,” Massundah said.
NBSZ will also launch the Pledge 25 Sanitary campaign where sanitary wear will be distributed to the children that were affected by the cyclone.
The theme for this year’s Blood Donor Month commemorations will be ‘Safe Blood For All!’
