On Monday, February 17, I donated blood for the 20th time; my blood pressure reading was 116/73, pulse 86 and weight, 83Kg: clearly my weight needs a break from my favourite Jiji/Kokonte/Lapriwa with peanut soup.

My first donation was under the auspices of the Knights of Marshall at the Martyrs of Uganda Catholic Church, Mamprobi, Accra in 1995, that is, 30 years ago!

When I arrived at my usual donation centre, I pulled out my blood red donation card and handed it to the staff.

“Is he a voluntary donor?” one lady asked. The other promptly replied, having confirmed my details on the computer: “Yes, and he’s long overdue. Your people always promise to remind me, but they never call,” I explained.

Then the staff offered the usual apologies which I didn’t need.

The National Blood Service Ghana (NBSG) is very good with questionnaires asking about how the service can improve.
You grant them a lengthy interview. They admit the problem, but hardly anything changes.

How many voluntary donors are there in Ghana; how many use MTN, Telecel, and or Airtel TiGo; and how much will it cost to call or send each person a reminder via SMS?

The messages of gratitude from the NBSG are understandable but altruism is self- rewarding.

As I am lactose intolerant, I do not even need the chocolate beverages because they contain cow milk. The usual sachet of water offered is enough.

But take the case of Patient X, a 30-ish accident victim I met at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital last September.

When his relative requested “a second” unit of blood for him, it was refused.

“He’s also a voluntary blood donor,” patient X’s lady relative added.

The relative told me that she gave the hospital the patient’s blood donation card, but they told her “it doesn't count”!

Patient X has donated blood “six times” and has “two cards.”

I also have several cards; clear evidence that record keeping is a problem.

The current improved record keeping system with barcodes started circa 2014.
My reliable sources with the blood donation centres have told me many times over that many donors are “annoyed" that they donate blood but cannot access blood when in need. "They're fed up," one source added.

Only about one in 18 persons who need blood in Greater Accra Region daily get the blood.

That is, roughly 17 units of blood donated daily, but 300 units are needed daily in Accra.

The rest “unfortunately sometimes die” because they can't get the blood, says a very reliable source within the National Blood Service Ghana.

"Then why not give me the full facts so that I'll do advocacy for you", I interjected in shock. "I'm a journalist”.

"It's not about advocacy and the figures are not accurate,” the voice at the other end of the line responded in exasperation. “Many corporate leaders set up blood donation exercises for us. But we arrive and their own staff are not interested.”

The main reason for the inaccurate data and suboptimal coordination/cooperation/collaboration is not difficult to fathom.

Everybody needs blood and the protocol list can be long, so blood donation centres in Ghana keep their data a secret.

When I donated under the auspices of the Knights of Marshall, I was not a Member; they had organized a donation drive, and I happened to be at the premises that day.

The Freemasons also used to organise blood donations but sadly, this has been in abeyance for over a decade!

We cannot help but wonder what has led to this retrogressive situation.
Eleven years ago, the Freemasons donated a blood bank refrigerator to the Ada Government Hospital.

The objective was to encourage that hospital to organise their own blood donation exercises effectively and store processed blood received from elsewhere.

Now that corporate and individual interest is on the decline, my source at the blood donation centre told me, “we go round begging for blood and begging donors to donate blood”.

Patient X first donated blood in 2015, that is, 10 years ago, under the auspices of the “Ho Municipal Assembly".

He was part of a boys-boys gang of six students buoyed by sheer student enthusiasm at “Ho Technical University” as well as the perks/cash payments they got.

“We once even received a request from the “Ahmadiyya Mission” in Ho to donate blood,” Patient X told me. “Sometimes, no blood donation certificates were issued but we didn’t care."

Is there any hope for people such as Patient X who get involved in terrible road traffic accidents?

I suggest that since in Ghana, we love protocol lists, organisations can assure their members of being placed on an internal protocol list for blood products when member donors and their close dependents need blood.

As my mentor has always reminded me: “There is nothing wrong with patronage; in Ghana pernicious patronage is our problem. Everywhere else there is a protocol list, except that in Ghana our protocol list is longer than the merit list."

In the words of Isaiah boldly engraved at the United Nations In New York: Turn your swords into plowshares and your spears into pruning hooks (Isaiah 2:4).

The results of voluntary blood donation are immensely beneficial.

My mentor again - “Blood donation is the highest form of charity because the blood you donate may be used to save even your own life!”