Blood donated not used for rituals – National Blood Service CEO

Accra-Ghana, Feb.14, GNA – Dr Shirley Owusu Ofori, Chief Executive Officer, National Blood Service, says her outfit is highly regulated and debunked perceptions that unscrupulous people could acquire blood from it for ritual purposes.
She said the Service had firm systems in place to track every unit of blood given; hence no room was given for any unit of blood to be compromised.
“We are able to track every unit from the vein of the donor to the vein of the recipient. We are able to track every unit a donor has given. So, it is encouraging for you to know that it is not possible for a blood service to collect your units and partner with any dubious or shady establishment or organisation to use your blood for any other activity such as rituals or other reasons being propagated out there,” she emphasised.
Dr Ofori, who said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, explained that every blood from a donor was given an identity to determine whether it was usable or not in a transparent process.
Her response followed speculations by some members of the public that blood donated voluntarily were being sold to people for spiritual purposes including money rituals.
The misconception has kept many away from donating blood needed to boost stocks to capacitate hospitals across the country to enhance lifesaving.
She explained that the Service would never partner any entity to engage in such a secretive activity as they were bound by law in all its activities.
“I, therefore, entreat all members of the public to endeavour to donate blood to beef up the national stock and build capacity to save more lives,” she noted.