The National Centre for Blood Transfusion (NCBT) has unveiled high precision technology capable of separating blood components during donation.

The two apheresis machines were, yesterday, unveiled to coincide with today’s celebration of the World Blood Donor Day.

Dr Swaibu Gatare, the NCBT division manager at Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), said the machines reduce the quantity of blood elements collected from a donor when compared to the ordinary methods.

 With the new machines, from the donor, only the constituent needed for a certain patient can be donated while with the ordinary methods all the three constituents are extracted at once.

 For instance, if the doctor indicates that a patient needs platelets only, with Apheresis the donor will be able to give only those platelets while for the ordinary methods all the three constituents (platelets, red cell and plasma) would be given even if the two others are not needed.

Besides, Dr Gatare said, the machines will boost availability of blood constituents.

"Before Apheresis for us to get one doze of platelets we were required to look for six regular blood donors; for a patient that needed three dozes would be required to look for 18 such donors. With Apheresis technology a single blood donor can donate up to three dozes. Besides, the interval of donating is reduced with apheresis since a donor using apheresis can donate every 15 days, while for the ordinary method a donor is allowed to donate only four times per year,” Dr Gatare said.

 Dorothée Uwiragiye, a resident of Masaka Sector in Kicukiro District – who has benefited from blood donation – urged Rwandans to donate blood to save lives.

 "I was given blood after seven months of recurrent bleeding. I was praying to the Lord to end my life as I was suffering but when I was given blood, I started to feel that I had to survive. I wish everyone could donate blood to save lives as I was saved,” Uwiragiye said.

Jean Pierre Habyarimana, who yesterday donated blood for the 22nd time, and Olivier Ndahiriwe, who donated for his 10th time, also urged the public to donate blood to save lives, saying "blood can never be got anywhere but from us.”

Dr Patrick Ndimubanzi, the state minister for public health and primary healthcare, urged Rwandans to donate blood, saying donating blood saves lives and especially prevents maternal death.

"Hundreds of women die every day worldwide due to bleeding after delivery. Thus, when you donate blood you contribute both to saving lives and to preventing maternal death,” he said.

Rwanda is the fifth country in sub-Saharan Africa to use apheresis machines in blood donation after South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Ghana.

The two machines, worth €500,000 (about Rwf405 million), were procured from a joint initiative of the Ministry of Health, the US Centre for Diseases Control and the Global Fund.

This year’s World Blood Donor Day was celebrated under the theme, "Thank you for saving my life.”

It focused on thanking blood donors who save lives every day through blood donation and encouraging people to voluntarily and regularly donate blood with the slogan "give freely; give often, blood donation matters.”