Alvine Kapitako
Windhoek-The current stock of blood for emergency blood transfusions is only enough for seven days, the Blood Transfusion Service of Namibia (NamBTS) revealed yesterday.
The educational officer at NamBTS, Titus Shivute, explained that five days’ bloodstock was ‘lost’ as a result of public holidays.
However, Shivute was yesterday optimistic there would be a gradual pick-up in blood donations by the start of next week.
“We are targeting high traffic areas such as shopping malls this week,” said Shivute.
NamBTS will visit different corporates to encourage people to donate blood, as more people are expected to resume work next week.
People eligible to donate blood should weigh 50 kilogrammes or more, lead a sexually safe life and eat a good meal at least three hours before donating blood, explained Shivute.
Various patients require blood for their lives to be saved. These include cancer patients, accident victims and mothers who may have lost too much blood during delivery.
Meanwhile, statistics provided by the Namibian Police Force (Nampol) show that 201 accidents occurred between December 24, 2017 and January 2.
Out of these, five deaths were recorded. From December 18 to December 24, 2017, 318 accidents were recorded with 14 deaths. During this period, 35 serious injuries were recorded.