The public has been urged to develop a positive attitude toward blood donation to save lives and sustain the blood bank.

Alexia Mukamazimpaka, the head of blood donors’ mobilisation service at National Centre for Blood Transfusion (NCBT), made the call ahead of the blood donation day, scheduled November 27 in Kigali.

It is organised by Mt Kenya University (MUK) in collaboration with the College of Medicine and Health Sciences.

It will be held at MKU’s main campus under the theme "Your Health and Knowledge Our Concern.”

"Currently, statistics indicate that only six  out 1000 people are donating blood yet for any country to have enough blood, 10 out of 1000 people must donate blood regularly, according to the World Health Organization,” said  Mukamazimpaka.

The MKU and NCBT initiative will see the university periodically donate blood to contribute towards the national blood bank stock.

Mukamazimpaka said partnership with higher institutions of learning will contribute towards creating more awareness on the importance of blood transfusion in saving lives and improving the health of people.

Henry Musisi, MKU’s public relations officer, said staff and students will donate blood as part of the university’s corporate social responsibilities.

He said that in addition to donating blood, various activities will be carried out, including health screening, laboratory tests and public health education.

This year, NCBT acquired two apheresis machines capable of separating blood components during donation.

The machines reduce the quantity of blood elements collected from a donor when compared to the ordinary methods.

It enables only the constituent needed for a certain patient to  be donated unlike the ordinary methods, where all the three constituents are extracted. When the patient needs platelets alone, these machines separate it from the red cell and plasma.