Zimpapers Logo

Paidamoyo Chipunza Herald Reporter
THE National Blood Services Zimbabwe (NBSZ) says it has enough blood for emergencies during the festive season.
The Christmas and New Year holidays are characterised by road accidents owing to high mobility as people visit various places for festivities.

In an interview yesterday, NBSZ spokesperson Ms Esther Massundah said they were pleased with blood stocks.
“We are pleased with our national blood stocks so far. We had targeted to collect at least 15 830 units between November and December and so far we have collected 6 537 units, so we are on course,” said Ms Massundah.

Ms Massundah said this was despite the fact that blood was now being given for free in public hospitals.
Blood was declared a free product in public health institutions in July this year.
“To cope with the increased demand for blood, we also increased our collection campaigns.

“This has seen collections for 2018 being the largest since 2014,” said Ms Massundah.
After the Government introduced the free blood policy, NBSZ increased its annual blood collection targets from 70 000 to 87 000.

NBSZ already had some blood units in stock.
Ms Massundah said for 2019, NBSZ will increase the target for blood collections to 108 405 units to meet the growing demand.

Demand for blood normally increase during the festive season due to high mobility of people.
Road accidents increase during this period.