As part of its corporate social responsibly, MTN Ghana on Valentine’s day has organized a blood donation exercise to support the blood bank and regional hospitals in Ghana.

The exercise in partnership with the National Blood Transfusion Service, 37 Military and the Greater Accra Regional hospitals was held in all the 16 regions of Ghana was on the theme: “Donate to save a life”.

This event held at various locations in Accra including MTN House, Graphic Road, Accra Academy Senior High and Odorgono Senior High schools is part of MTN Ghana’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to help stock hospitals with blood.

The MTN Manager for Sustainability and Social Impact, Rhoderlyn Entsua-Mensah in an interview said the 2020 target was to donate 5,000 pints of blood nationwide.

She revealed that MTN was also in the process of cutting a sword for the construction of a blood bank at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital.

“Over the years we have realized that some of the facilities do not have the equipment and right place to keep the blood that we donate, thus as a sustainability measure, we are building a blood bank for the Cape Coast Maternity Unit at the cost of ¢300,000” she noted.

This, Madam Entsua-Mensah added is to help provide enough blood for emergency cases and also reduce maternal mortality.

For his part, Public Relations Officer of the National Blood Service, Stephen Addai Baah, said the Service supplied almost 200 units of blood every day to hospitals and clinics within its enclave, and Korle-Bu Maternity alone took about 150 units daily.

“It is therefore very relevant that we get enough blood to be able to supply these facilities in order to save those whose lives depend solely on it.”

Mr Baah commended MTN for the noble yearly exercise, saying, “With these exercises, we are able to save so many lives that would have otherwise been lost.”

“Ghanaians are most comfortable with replacement system instead of the voluntary blood donations, so that is why we keep appealing to the public that voluntary blood donation is very safe and reliable”.

Mr Baah encouraged everyone to voluntarily donate blood three times a year.