Koforidua, Feb 1, GNA- Sixty students and lectures of the All Nation University College (ANUC), a private university at Koforidua, on Tuesday, donated blood to the Koforidua Regional Hospital Blood Bank.

The head of the Business Administration Department of the College, Mr Ebenezer Bennet said the University's aim for organizing the exercise was to inculcate in the students the habit of blood donation. The Principal Blood Programme Organiser, Mr Abubakari Kwasi Frimpong-Manso, who described the initiative by the University as a commendable effort, said the timing of the exercise had saved the blood bank from running short of blood, because the bank had been in short supply of late, as a result of the high demand for infusion during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Mr Frimpong-Manso explained that the high rate of accidents during the Christmas festivities, high baby deliveries and malaria cases, especially among children during thise time of the year, accounted for the shortages.

He said as a result of students going on vacation during the end of year, the hospital had been experiencing shortage of blood, saying students constituted the core of blood donors in the region.

Mr Frimpong-Manso expressed the optimism that by the end of February, there would be enough blood to cater for the people who might need it.

He advised people who were afraid of donating blood to go in for a test to know their blood grouping as in case of emergency that record would be helpful.

The organiser advised people to check on their health status regularly especially, for Hepatitis (inflammation of the liver), as it is "more infectious and deadly than HIV/AIDS."