By Okong’o Oduya
Busia County, Kenya: Millicent Atieno is a resident from Budalangi in Busia County, she is currently admitted at Busia county referral hospital suffering from breast related complications waiting for her relatives to come and donate blood to save her life.
Atieno says for the last one month she had been undergoing treatment but she will have to wait a little bit longer for her relatives to donate blood. Atieno requires 4 pints of blood and so far her two sons have donated 2 pints remaining two, which still will have to be donated by the boys.
“I have been here for at least one month. I was diagnosed with breast-related complication and that is when I was told I needed blood before it is operated. Doctors told me I have to talk to my people to donate blood. My sons came and donated two pints of blood. I need two more pints which means I will still wait for them to come again and fill up the gap,” she said.
Magret Nabwire is the same ward nursing her wounds after delivering. She is also in need of blood but since there is no blood she will have to wait for her relatives to come and donate some for her to allow her to heal. “I lost a lot of blood while delivering and doctors told me I need more blood. That means I will have to depend on my relatives and donate some for me.” She said.
Mike Ambrose and his brother Samwel Ambrose from Budalangi are at a blood transfusion center in Busia county referral hospital. The two had come to donate blood for mother, Millicent Atieno.
According to them, they had donated two pints before and they were to donate two more to enable their mother to proceed with treatment.
“I have come here to donate blood for my mother. She has been there for at least a month now. Her blood level is low before she is operated on. She requires blood. We could not sit down and see our mother suffering because she lacks blood yet we can donate for her. Earlier on we had donated two pints we have come to donate the remaining. We cannot afford to lose our mother at this age. We still need her and that is why we are here.” One of the sons confided.
According to them one of the breasts of their mother needs to be removed but before then she needs blood before the operation. They are now calling upon the well-wishers to put aside fears that they will be subjected to mandatory covid-19 tests and donate blood adding that the move will help in saving a lot of lives.
“We worry so much of being subjected to a mandatory covid-19 test yet people are losing lives due to lack of blood. Our public hospitals need blood. My mother could have been well by now if the hospital had blood. But because of Coronavirus, we are here to do the donation after people shunning away from blood donation. Let us come out and donate blood. This is the only thing we will do to the health sector during this covid-19 times,” said Samuel.
Dr. Rosemary Okuku is the officer in charge at the blood transfusion center in Busia County says the community already understands the current blood situation in the health facilities when it comes to blood storage. They come out voluntarily to donate blood for their relatives when the need arises.
She says the situation is improving compared to when the covid-19 has pronounced in Kenya three months ago.
“The condition of the blood is not as bad as it was when the covid-19 pandemic started. Right now the community already is aware that there is no blood in the blood bank, so once the patient comes who needs blood the relatives will come to donate blood.”
According to her, the blood bank has only 50 pints of unscreened blood adding that before the pandemic they could collect up to four pints of blood in one month. She says before the corona pandemic they depended so much on learning institutions in the county to stock up their bank.
“Last year at a time like this we used to go to learning institutions like Nangina girls high school, Kolanya boys, Butula boys, and other institutions. They were giving us up to 200 pints of blood in one session. In a month we used to have up to 400 pints of blood at the blood satellite, but as we speak right now we only manage to raise a maximum of 150 pints of blood in a month,” she noted.
She reveals pregnant mothers experiencing excessive bleeding after giving birth, sickle cell anemia patients, and children less than five years with severe malaria experiencing very low hemoglobin concentration and those involved in accidents are the group of people that are in dire need of blood.
In an interview with Talkafrica, Okuku said the fear of mandatory covid-19 testing has contributed a lot to blood shortage not just in Busia, but the whole country.
She appeals to members of the public to come out and donate more blood to avoid relying on relatives to donate blood for their patients who at times take longer than expected. She however assured people of their safety when they come out to donate blood adding that they will not subject them to any covid-19 test. “There are measures that we have in place to make sure that you are as safe as possible. We are not going to subject anyone to any covid-19 tests as most people believe.”
Dr. Isaac Omeri is the chief officer, department of health says the blood transfusion center in the county is not well equipped to screen blood, forcing the county to rely on other facilities in Kisumu, Eldoret, and Kakamega to help them in screening blood donated from relatives and other well-wishers.
“When we get well-wishers and other relatives to donate blood, the blood must be well screened for hepatitis, HIV, and other unwanted diseases in the blood forcing us to seek help from other blood satellites for screening.” He noted.
He said the county has allocated kSh1 Million that will be directed in addressing challenges facing blood shortage in all public health facilities in the county. “The money will be in blood transfusion/transportation and blood donation campaigns among other uses,” he said.
He revealed that as a county they have got a long time program that aims at equipping blood satellites in Busia county referral hospital to enable the facility to start screening and testing blood.
“In the 2020/2021 financial year, we allocated ksh1 million in addressing challenges that are facing blood availability in the county. The money will be used in donation campaigns in various locations in the county, blood transportation, and transfusion,” he confirmed.
As the need for blood continues to rise we will have to equip our facility to be able to do a screening of the blood that we collect without necessarily looking elsewhere for help,” he added.
There is a perennial shortage of blood in the country. Last year, the Kenya National Blood Transfusion Service collected only 16% of the 1 million units the country required. The year before, it had the same shortfalls.
According to to World Health Organization guidelines for the proportion of donors relative to the total population, Kenya should be collecting as much as one million units of blood a year but this has been greatly affected.
