Emergency healthcare at KATH in limbo as it moves out to beg for supply

Emergency healthcare delivery at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) is in limbo as it struggles to stock blood for its emergency healthcare delivery.

Due to this, the biggest referral hospital in the Ashanti Region has been forced to set up blood donation centres at the Kumasi City Mall, pleading with the public to donate blood to support its blood transfusion unit of the facility.

According to the management of the facility, they were unable to draw blood from religious institutions and other organised bodies who served as their regular source of blood due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

“Blood Service cannot predict blood supply needs during a pandemic like we have. However a sufficient blood supply must remain available so that we can treat our patients,” Head of the Blood Transfusion Unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Dr Shirley Ofori Owusu told Starr FM.

“Some pregnant women still bleed excessively, cancer patients are still on treatment, Children are being rushed to hospitals with severe anaemia, accidents are still happening and people still need blood,” she described.

KATH needs an average of 70 to 80 units of blood each day with departments like the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department, Cancer Unit, Surgical Wards and the Accident and Emergency Centre taking a huge chunk.

Despite the initiative taken to set up donation centres in public places like the mall to encourage people to donate, the facility still struggles to meet its daily target.

Senior Blood Donation Organiser, Bernard Arhin said, “currently as I speak, we are expecting about 70 to 80 units of blood but anytime we come, we are not able to meet our targets and we are still encouraging people to come around to donate”.

Though there is low patronage of the initiative, a resident in Kumasi who donated blood to support the blood transfusion unit rallied others to also donate to help save lives.