At least 108 Police officers from the National Police College (NPC) in Musanze District, on Thursday, donated blood to support the national blood bank.

The voluntary blood donation exercise is part of the Police Month human security activities that were launched on July 15.

Speaking during the exercise, Commissioner of Police (CP) Faustin Ntirushwa, the Deputy Commandant of NPC said that donating blood is also part of security to ensure the health of people in need of blood.

"We are in the second week of police Month, with many ongoing community activities including constructing 30 houses for the disadvantaged families; paying annual medical insurance for 3, 000 people countrywide, donating and installing solar energy in 3, 000 households, and blood donation is part of these human security activities,” Ntirushwa said.

He added that besides police involvement in various community social programmes, they are motivated by their routine experiences where blood is usually needed after incidents such as road accidents and women giving birth.

"Safety is a wide aspect; physical security and public healthcare are essential life needs. This is why police officers feel indebted to donate blood in order to save those in need,” said Ntirushwa.

He reiterated that Rwanda National Police is committed to making sacrifices every day to save lives and "that’s why this exercise comes as an addition to our sworn responsibility of ensuring safety of people living in Rwanda and their property.”

Dr. Martin Bizimana, who is in charge of Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) services in Northern Province, thanked the initiative of RNP to save lives. He also appealed to all Rwandans to follow the example and save lives.

"This is an act of saving lives, and it shows the value our police have for the people. When you donate blood you are saving someone’s life, and we urge all Rwandans to emulate this spirit… these are some of the values that define us as Rwandans,” Bizimana observed.