Kenya is facing an acute shortage of blood for patients seeking services in different hospitals and in emergency cases. The country annually needs 400,000 units (pints). In 2013, only 170,000 units of blood were collected. Urgent access to safe supplies of blood for transfusion is critical to saving many lives that may have been lost otherwise. The safest source of blood is from regular, voluntary unpaid donors whose blood is safe from infections.
Nairobi, 13th November 2016: BAPS Charities in conjunction with Kenya National Blood Transfusion Services (KNBTS) and MP Shah Hospital held their Annual Blood Donation drive coupled with basic Health Screening.
As part of its 2016 project under the Medical Services pillar, BAPS Charities administered a Blood Donation Drive in partnership with Kenya National Blood Transfusion Services (KNBTS). In addition to the Blood Donation Drive, BAPS Charities also organized for a basic Health Screening of the patrons that included Blood Pressure, Body Mass Index (BMI), Blood Sugar and Haemoglobin, in partnership with MP Shah Hospital.
The event, which kicked off at 9am, was administered and managed by a group of BAPS Charities volunteers with teams from KNBTS and MP Shah Hospital. The event was well attended with 184 Pints of Blood collected and 260 patrons took advantage of the Health Screening.
Speaking during the Drive, Ashish Bhavsar, a Member of the BAPS Charities said, “We are extremely happy with the turnout and we are glad to have been at the service of the community. We would like to appreciate KNBTS and MP Shah Hospital for partnering with us and making this a success and hope to make this event bigger next year with a larger turn-out.
