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Trust Freddy Herald Correspondent 

BLOOD donors can claim a 5-litre fuel coupon tomorrow backed by Redan Petroleum as the National Blood Services of Zimbabwe seeks to make it easier and cost-free for donors to come in and give a unit.

The participating sites will be Redan Greencroft in Harare, Redan Flyover in Mutare and Bulawayo’s Redan Bellevue.

NBSZ communications officer Mr Kudakwashe Chidziya said the initiative should help plug shortages at the national blood bank. 

“The partnership initiative is meant to intensify blood collections. Under this strategic partnership with Redan, which also considered the initiative under its corporate social responsibility programme, we as NBSZ and Redan saw it fit to give back to the community and our blood donors who are always supportive of saving lives through blood donations,” said Mr Chidziya. 

He said they are anticipating a huge turnout as they are hoping to boost their stocks. 

“We are anticipating a huge turnout and we are hopeful that we can boost our stocks with at least 30 percent of our adequate stocks.”

“The campaign is only for January  6 and open to anyone who would want to donate blood at the highlighted Redan sites on the flyer,” Mr Chidziya said.

Stocks of blood are low, especially of blood group type O in Harare and Bulawayo branches, which are now left with only a few days’ supply. NBSZ usually sees stocks fall during school holidays, when senior schoolchildren, who form up to 70 percent of its regular donors, each giving a unit a term, cannot be contacted. 

“Our stocks are critically low which even saw us opening on January 2 for donors despite it being a holiday. We need to intensify our collections so that we have adequate stocks. 

“Currently we are short of blood group type O and we appeal to O donors to come and donate.

“For Harare and Bulawayo branches, statistical data shows that we are only having a day’s supply which shows how low our stocks are and at times we are unable to meet the required daily demand,” Mr Chidziya said.

The country requires an average daily supply of 315 units of blood groups A and AB to cover cases of trauma and emergencies countrywide.

Faced with dwindling numbers of blood donors coupled with high demand, NBSZ has since embarked on public blood donations campaigns, raising awareness on the importance of donating blood.

NBSZ had set a target of collecting 6 960 blood units for the festive season, but the high demand forced them to appeal for more donations before the end of the festive season.

An increase in number of accidents led to a significant increase in demand for blood and blood                                             products. 

A downside of the festive season is the high demand for blood transfusions, linked to the upsurge in road accidents. 

The NBSZ consumes an additional 10 percent of the daily demand during major holidays since demand is usually high than any other time of the year.

According to NBSZ, adults make less donations but consume 80 percent of the donated blood.

Youths contribute most of the blood to the national bank with at least 70 percent coming from school children.