The Commissioner of Insurance has urged other institutions in the country to emulate the NIC and the insurance industry in Ghana to donate blood to save our blood banks.

Dr Justice Ofori said this when the insurance industry led by its regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NIC) successfully donated 2,015 pints of blood to the National Blood Service (NBS) to save lives.

Excited by this feat during the closing ceremony of the 2022 Blood Donation Campaign, he added that the insurance industry is looking forward to donating more blood to the National Blood Service next year to beat its own record that it has set in 2022 with an unprecedented record of 2,015 units of blood (i.e. the statistics according to the NBS).

“We believe that next year, we will break the record we have set this year by ourselves, and we urge other institutions to emulate what we have done, so we can build strong national blood banks across the country,” he said.

The 2,015 units of blood donated is a significant improvement on the 802 units donated by the Insurance Industry when the month of August was declared as 'Ghana insurance industry’s blood donation month' in 2021.

The 2022 Blood Donation Campaign organised by the NIC with support from the Ghana Insurers Association (GIA), the Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana (IBAG), the Chartered Insurance Institute of Ghana (CIIG) and the Ghana National Bureau of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme making up the entire insurance industry.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Blood Service, Dr Shirley Owusu-Ofori, in a speech read on her behalf by the Deputy CEO of the NBS, Dr Christabel Laryea, expressed gratitude to the Insurance industry for such thoughtful humane gesture of voluntarily saving lives.

She said, “the National Blood Service is indebted to the NIC and the entire insurance industry, we commend the NIC for mobilising players in the insurance industry and some members of the public to donate to the Blood Service throughout all Regions of Ghana.”

Dr Justice Ofori later together with the CEO of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital led the Heads of the various insurance industry bodies to also feat some patients and donated some medical items to the Department of Child Health of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

These were presented to Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah in the precincts of the Children’s Block.

In his welcoming remarks Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah, couldn’t help but express his immense appreciation to the insurance industry for thinking about society in a special way such as through blood donation, a product which cannot be manufactured.

Dr Ampomah also prayed the industry to sustain this gesture and called on other corporate sectors to take a cue from the NIC.

He added that KBTH is currently looking at refurbishing its in-house blood bank and convincing more people to donate blood to the hospital‘s blood bank.

The ceremony was graced by some influential officers who work in the medical and media space.

These included Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa, a renowned Pathologist, Prof. Lorna Renner, Head of the Paediatric Oncology (Cancers) Unit, Mr. Gustav Siale, a former Managing Director of Ghana RE and Bishop Asante Marfoh-Ahenkora. Others were Dr Christabel Laryea of the NBS, Mrs Kokui Selormey-Hanson (a voluntary blood donation advocate), Louis Kwame Sakyiamah known in showbiz circles as Lexis Bill, Samuel Forson, Joseph Langabelle, Rubbin Adarkwa and Ishew Stephen Tetteh Charway all voluntary blood donation advocates.

Some medical staff of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the National Blood Service were also present.

The industry leaders were Mr Shaibu Ali (IBAG President), Richard Eshun (GNB ECOWAS Brown Card General Secretary), Dr Kingsley Kwabahson (GIA CEO) and Mr Tawia Ben-Ahmed (CIIG President).

The campaign is themed: 'Donate blood; save a life; as you do it for someone, you do it for yourself.’