Correspondence from Bono Region:

The Bono Regional Hospital is appealing for voluntary blood donation from the general public as its blood bank has run out of stock.

The shortage of blood at the blood bank, management says is adversely affecting the daily operations of the hospital.

The hospital which needs an average of 20 pints of blood daily for an emergency, labour and surgical cases is currently unable to meet the demand as a result of the shortage.

According to the Head of Laboratory of the Bono Regional Hospital, Mr Abdul Ganiu, there has been a significant reduction in the quantity of blood in stock.

Abdul Ganiu attributed the drastic reduction in blood donation to the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus has put fear in many people.

He told Ghanaweb in an exclusive interview that before COVI9-19, the hospital used to record over 350 voluntary blood donations a month but the figure has gone down drastically as only 17 people have donated blood between January and July this year.

He revealed that because the hospital is unable to engage institutions as it used to do as a result of the restrictions imposed on mass gatherings because of Coronavirus, it is now forced to rely on a family replacement to stock the blood bank.

“Our blood bank has currently run out of stock as people have stopped donating blood voluntarily since the outbreak of the Coronavirus. We need blood to be able to carry out operations at the surgical, labour and children wards and to handle accident cases effectively.”

He urged the public to cultivate the habit of voluntarily donating blood by joining the "I pledge 25" campaign as it will go a long way to save many lives.