A close friend of mine recently shared his experience with me on blood donation and transfusion. This friend of mine, who has voluntarily been donating blood to different hospitals and clinics for some time now, was admitted to a hospital and needed blood. The hospital gave this friend of mine the blood and after, charged him for it. This friend of mine was highly disappointed!
He added that: “I’ve been donating my hard earned blood to various hospitals and clinics to save the lives of others without taking a cedi or pesewa but did so in exchange for tea bags, Milks, oats, sugar, and some blood tonics. When I needed blood to save my life too, I paid for it!”
Speaking to a health practitioner on this topic, he said “if your friend was able to produce a relative to donate, I’m sure the hospital would have transfused the blood from that relative to him without any charge – provided their bloods are compatible. In the absence of that, the hospital did no wrong in selling the blood to him.”
Hospitals in Ghana, usually the big ones – Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, 37 Military Hospital, Komfo Anokye Hospital are always calling on the general public to visit their outfits and voluntarily donate blood so that they can get blood and conserve them in their blood banks to save patients who need blood (suffering from anemia) or needs blood for surgical operations.