Authorities of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) have impressed upon the citizenry to support it with regular voluntary blood donation to help save lives.

Dr. Oheneba Owusu-Danso, Chief-Executive of the Hospital, said as the nation’s second largest health referral facility with high Out-Patient-Department (OPD) attendances, the hospital was in constant need of blood in order to save the dying.

Addressing a ceremony to mark this year’s World Blood Donor Day at the Opoku Ware School (SHS), Kumasi, he stated that transfusion of blood helps save millions of lives every year.

It aids patients suffering from life-threatening conditions to live longer and with higher quality of life.

The Day is marked annually to create awareness of the need for regular blood donations to ensure the quality, safety and availability of blood and blood products for patients in need.

Dr. Danso said about 70 per cent of its blood stock was donated by the youth, especially students in second-cycle institutions.

KATH, he said, had in the past four years received more than nine thousand pints of blood from the students.

Dr. Sheila Ofori-Mensah, Head of the KATH Blood Transfusion Unit, advised donors to always adhere to healthy lifestyles in order to recover in time for their own health and appealed to the public to disabuse their minds of misconceptions about blood donations since the exercise helped to promote the cause of mankind.