The Blood Transfusion Service of Namibia (NAMBTS) recently hosted an awareness event to educate the public on its role, donor management, and the costs of blood transfusion.
NAMBTS spokesperson Zita Tobin spoke about the critical role blood transfusion services plays as a critical service provider in Namibia.
“The main objective of the day was to share what we do and how we do it. We shared our donor management programmes, our donor safety, and lastly, the cost of saving a life,” she said.
Attendees got a tour of the donor facilities, as well as the technical division where blood is processed.
They gained insight into various blood transfusion costs, such as the cost of transport, blood bags, importation, testing blood, blood group serology, and maintaining quality and safety.
About 40% of blood product materials are imported from Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Japan.
“We are doing this in response to what is going on social media in terms of how expensive the transfusion process of blood is as well as how a donor shouldn’t be payed to donate blood,” says NAMBTS chief operations officer Israel Chipare.
Some donors shared their experiences.
Izanne Smith, who has donated more than 20 times, said she’s happy to do “something nice for someone” when she donates blood.
“I started donating when I was in high school and I’ve been donating throughout my life. We are now family here and talk about almost everything, and we have catch-up sessions every two weeks. I’ve had a great time here.”
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