The Seventh Day Adventist Church of Wenchi West District has embarked on a blood donation exercise to mark this year's Global Youth Day.

District Youth Leader of the Church, Alexander Gyamfi said this year's celebration was under the theme 'Reaching Out, Colors, Cultures and Communities'.

"Such activities are very important for us as our mission is to go out and save others and this can be done in many ways such as through community work, visiting the sick and less fortunate, and giving blood to save lives," he said.

"We visited the blood bank of the Wenchi Methodist hospital and realized that it was empty so as part of activities to mark the anniversary we took it upon ourselves to embark on blood donation exercise to help the public and save lives," Master Guide Alexander Gyamfi added.

According to him, there is a lot more to religious beliefs than just simply going to church and listening to sermons.

The Principal Lab Technician at Wenchi Methodist Hospital, Mr. Christopher Nkromah said it is important to donate blood to save lives.

Yet the need for blood still exists to perform blood transfusions needed in most emergency cases, such as pregnant women, babies malaria patients, orthopaedic surgeries and others.

He said the number of blood donations dramatically declined due to the covid-19 pandemic.

We are in dare need of blood, the blood bank is almost empty and this programme is going to help us to replenish the stock, Christopher Nkromah said.

He commended the SDA Church for the exercise and urged all blood donors to give now to ensure blood products are readily available for patients.