The corridors of operating theatres at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital are besieged by blood transfusion contractors who are ready to donate blood for a fee. They charge between GH¢50 and GH¢60 for each pint of blood they donate to patients who have been scheduled for surgery. The practice has become common because the hospital authorities require replenishment for transfused blood, in the face of depleted stock. Normally, relatives of patients who need blood, have to look for voluntary donors prior to operation, but this is often difficult and they are, therefore, compelled to fall on blood donation contractors. The Ghanaian Times newspaper spoke to one of such contractors who said he had been in that business for years. He said he had been donating because some relatives of patients who come from outside Accra found it difficult to get people to donate for them. He did not disclose how much he makes at the end of the month, but said their services were often sought through the recommendation of families who had previously dealt with them. The blood contractor said he donates a pint a day and uses part of the money paid to buy food and diet supplements to restore his energy. Mr. John Ahadjie, Assistant Chief Blood Donor Recruiter for the National Blood Transfusion Service, said replacement was necessary because blood voluntarily donated to the service was far below what should be in stock for national needs. He said the replacement regime was, therefore, put in place to keep the stock at a certain minimum level which could be used during an emergency. Mr. Ahadjie said the National Blood Transfusion Service was planning to give patients free blood transfusion by 2020 as pertains in other countries, but until the country reached that point, there was the need for more people to donate voluntarily. The national annual requirement for blood transfusion is 250,000 pints, but only 41 per cent of that is donated to the bank. Mr. Ahadjie said the lack of education and fear of being diagnosed with certain diseases among other factors discouraged people from donating voluntarily. He said the hospital charged patients between GH¢30 and GH¢35 for a pint of blood donated free by donors to cover cost of storage. He asked the government to support the blood bank with more logistics to be able to reach out to more people with its services. Source: The Ghanaian Times