LASUTH Heamatologists Lament Blood Shortage, Calls for More Voluntary Blood Donors 

The Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in conjunction with Lagos State Ministry of Health organized a blood donation drive on Wednesday, 16th of June, 2021, as they joined their counterpart all over the world to commemorate the 2021 World Blood Donor Day.

During a chat with the Head of Department of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, LASUTH, Dr. Adedoyin Dosumu, he said the idea of donating blood is to ensure that blood is available to people who are in dire need of it. He went ahead to outline the categories of people who need blood to include expectant mothers, victims of road traffic accidents (RTA), industrial accidents, patients for open-heart surgeries, liver transplant, orthopedic surgeries, sickle cell disease among others. “Blood transfusion has artistic feeling and it’s meant to sustain and save the lives of the people who are in need of it. It has to be a voluntary donation”, he said.

He spoke further about the age range of people who are meant to donate blood, ranging between 18 and 56 years old, stressing that these are the voluntary blood donors who have enough blood, and “we need them to come up and donate”. Dr. Dosumu also spoke on the categories of people who should not donate blood and that include people who cannot tolerate rapid loss of blood, people who are using hypertension drugs, diabetes, as these can cause adverse effect on the donor.

The Consultant Heamotologist lamented that the COVID-19 Pandemic really affected the activities of Department citing that people who want to donate blood are afraid to come to the hospital and that led to blood shortage, “The pandemic came suddenly and scared people away, this led to the hospital having blood shortage for transfusion”. He also emphasized the need to create adequate awareness that will encourage people to come to donate blood.

The Executive Secretary, Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service Dr. Bodurin Osikomaiya, in a statement, commented on the commitment of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration to the provision of safe and adequate blood supply in the State.

She mentioned that the operations of Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service have been fortified through the development of infrastructure, capacity building and propelled by the Governor and the Health Commissioner for prompt and effective service delivery. She assured that Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service will not relent in providing services that will be in line with international best practices and standards.

In addition, Mrs. Adetoun Adegbite, Deputy Director in charge of LASUTH Blood Bank and Donation, emphasized on improving the voluntary donation drive to be monthly, stressing that LASUTH is a tertiary institution and a referral centre, “we always need blood for emergencies, yet people aren’t donating as they used to because a number of volunteers seem unfit based on the economy of the country”.

As part of World Blood Donor Day celebration, LASUTH held its monthly Clinical Grand Round on the topics ‘Provision of Safe Blood for Transfusion’ and ‘Appropriate use of Blood Hemovigilance.’

Dr. Anaduaka Doris a Resident Doctor in the Department of Haematology LASUTH, in her presentation said that blood donation saves life as it makes screened blood readily available for emergencies. She said there is need for increase in voluntary blood donors, Ideal donors and blood bank. “Blood donation should be non-renumerated as the World Health Organization recommended that it should be 100% voluntary. Voluntary blood donation is 4% in Nigeria and review estimated blood needed in Nigeria is 1.5million units per annum while collected is just over 500,000 units.” She disclosed that there is serious shortage, wrong raw materials, inadequate blood processing and inappropriate use of blood.

Dr. Ronke Hassan of Haematology Department, LASUTH also explained Haemavigilence as a set of surveillance procedure covering the entire blood transfusion chain and the patient follow up. The ultimate goal of this is to prevent adverse reaction in the transfusion, reduce wastage of scarce blood or blood products and for proper documentation for healthcare profession.