Delegates attending the Africa Society for Blood Transfusion (AfSBT) 8th international congress are today set to spend some time off their schedule donating blood to help save lives.

The exercise was organised by the National Blood Transfusion Centre (NBTC) in the car-free zone in downtown Kigali to mark the conclusion of the AfSBT congress today which started on May 31, in Kigali.

Over 400 delegates from across the world have been in the country to assess Rwanda and Africa’s stand in relation to blood transfusion services.

Dr Thomas Muyombo, the Head of Blood Donor Recruitment and Retention NBTC, said the activity is a way of showing the foreign delegates how blood is attained in Rwanda as well as giving them a chance to save lives through blood donation.

"It is also giving them an opportunity to save lives because when you donate blood you are saving life.”

"Most of the people in Kigali are busy working in their offices so we brought this activity close to their offices so that they can give thirty minutes of their time to save life,” he said.

Muyombo also said since there will not be a national ceremony to mark the World Blood Donor Day, which takes place annually on June 14, both the donation and the conference are part of buildup events ahead of the international day.

Dr Jeh-han Ormajee, a delegate from South Africa, said the exercise is important for Rwandans since it will teach them the importance of donating blood.

"Tomorrow [today] we shall don our T-shirts and go to donate blood. It will show a good example to the local community. It will impact them by showing them that blood donation is important,” she said.

For Pam Larkin, the Head of Business Development at National Bio-products Institute, based in South Africa, this will be an opportunity for her to donate blood because when she goes back home, she will not be allowed to donate blood for three months having been in a malaria prone country.

Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that over 25000 patients get blood transfussion each year in the country many of whom are children and pregnant mothers with the main reasons for transfusion being malaria, hemorrhagic obstetrical complications, surgery and chronic diseases.

Dr Muyombo says the campaign will continue to ensure that there is sufficient blood for people that may need it.

NCBT has five fully functional state of the art Regional Blood Collection Centres (RCBTs) in Kigali with a mission of providing safe, effective and adequate blood to patients.

This has greatly improved access to safe blood in all the five regions of the country.

NCBT distributes over 61,000 blood units per year, averaging 5500 units per month.

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