Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy was loud in praise of voluntary blood donors at the World Blood Donors’ Day award ceremony held to mark the country reaching the 60% blood donation mark. 

The Government Information Agency (GINA) said the ministry honoured 176 voluntary blood donors for making regular contributions to the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) over the past year. The celebration was held under the theme ‘Give Blood Regularly’ and was hosted at the Umana Yana on Saturday. It saw attendance by officials including Pan American Health Organisation Country Representative Dr Kathleen Israel and NBTS Director Clement McEwan.

In his address the minister encouraged the donors to “continue to be good Samaritans.” Ramsammy said Guyana has moved from a 20% donation mark to over 55% which is a tremendous achievement that shows citizens are committed to saving lives. 

The minister said Guyana had been listed as one of the countries “not generous in giving blood” but today this has been proven wrong. He said the country hopes to reach the 100% target by 2009 and he is confident that this can be achieved.

Ramsammy said many persons are willing to give blood and the ministry has not been disappointed when persons are asked to give a donation, whether in an emergency or otherwise. He acknowledged that achieving the 60% mark would not have been possible without the partnership of several agencies such as faith-based organizations, schools, corporations and most importantly citizens.

However, he also pointed out that the ministry has failed to reach out to people in every part of country and this is currently being reviewed. Ramsammy said despite this Guyana has worked hard to ensure that safe blood is quickly available to patients. “Donating blood allows us to do something meaningful, whether it’s one unit or 20 units in our lifetime. The simple act of generosity lasts forever in somebody’s life,” Ramsammy said. It is hoped that World Blood Donors Day will create wider awareness of the importance of voluntary blood donation and encourage people to become regular blood donors.

GINA said the Health Information System tracks the percentage of healthy volunteer donors which currently numbers about 25,000 persons. During 2007, over 7,094 units of blood were collected nationwide including at regional and private hospitals. From that sum, the NBTS collected 5,475 units.