By KT Reporter
The Irish Embassy, through Doctors with Africa CUAMM, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, has launched the construction of a 2 billion Shillings blood bank in the Moroto regional referral hospital.
The Ireland ambassador, H.E. Kevin Colgan, officiated at the groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday at the Moroto regional hospital. Works are expected to be completed before the end of this year.
Colgan noted that access to timely blood transfusion services is one of the most critical and overlooked components of an effective health system.
Colgan explained that the lack of blood storage and supply capacity in the region has limited the ability to save lives, especially for women suffering from postpartum haemorrhage and children with anaemia.
He said that the blood bank will help to ensure that life-saving blood is available when and where it is needed most. He added that this is the symbol of hope and resilience for the region and the major milestone in the shared journey towards equitable health care for all.
He said that they have so far supported over 12,000 safe deliveries, improved immunisation coverage by over 20%in the targeted areas and trained more than 20 health workers.
Dr Peter Lochoro, the country representative of CUAM, said that they have five major sets of activities in the project, which include making the blood available, utilisation, improved use and management of health data, improving newborn health care services, skilling of human resources for health workers and adolescent health.
Lochoro said that they are having an engagement of adolescents both at school and home to ensure that teenage pregnancies are reduced and those who conceive get better services for pregnancies and child care.
He noted that most adolescents, when they get pregnant, often fear reaching out to the mainstream to get health services, and they end up losing their lives in maternal-related complications.
He added that they are also working with the community through offering outreaches to their respective areas of settlements to ensure they get quality health services.
Although Moroto regional referral hospital had a blood collection centre, they have always struggled to collect blood from the donors due to the negative attitude towards donating blood. The hospital is forced to collect the blood from Mbale and Nakasero blood bank, with delays in deliveries, which has highly contributed to the death of mothers during childbirth due to over bleeding.
Justine Samuel Tuko, the Moroto deputy Resident District Commissioner, challenged the district health team to champion the collections of blood to fill the facility.
He added that there is a need to embark on community sensitisation to inform them of the importance of donating blood so that they can offer without fear.
Tuko revealed that the district has enough resources to support the campaign on blood donations, and they only need commitment from the stakeholders to kick off the exercise.
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