Blood Servers Critically Low, NBS

By NORMA TSOPO

Zimbabwe’s blood servers are now critically low due to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, the National Blood Services (NBS) announced yesterday.

In a statement, NBS said the dwindling of blood stocks was not an exclusively Zimbabwean problem as the global epidemic has forced governments to restrict people’s movements inadvertently affecting donors.

“It’s hard to underscore how damaging the one-two punch of Covid 19 and the lockdown measures have been on the blood banks. It’s not due to more patients needing blood products but rather, it’s reduced number of donations coming in,” NBS communications officer Ephraim Mubayi said.

Mubayi said his organisation was pleading with donors and healthy members of society to approach their nearest donor centres across the country to make donations.

“NBS is appealing to all blood donors who are due or who have not donated for a while and to healthy members of our communities who have donated before to come forward and make a lifesaving donation,” he said.

NBS said stocks are falling short of the 315 units of blood that are required daily nationally.

Patients undergoing surgery, receiving treatment for cancer and blood diseases, such as leukaemia, require blood