Lamu hospitals have a constant blood shortage and Woman rep Ruweida Obbo is appealing to the national government to set up a blood bank in the county.
The hospitals depend on Mombasa and Nairobi for blood during emergencies.
This is both dangerous and inconvenient when a patient's life depends on blood as it takes hours – even days – for it to arrive, Obbo said in Lamu on Tuesday.
She said blood centres are necessary for all the 47 counties.
She said it beats imagination that despite an active devolved government, Kenyans in counties like Lamu still perish from blood emergencies.
“For Lamu, blood has to be brought from Mombasa or Nairobi. People die. The situation would be different if we had a blood centre here,” Obbo said.
She at the same time encouraged Lamu people to donate blood and save lives.
“When and if such a facility comes to Lamu, there will be a need for people to ensure it never runs dry. We can only sustain such is we make it a duty to donate blood. Nobody should die for lack of blood in this century,” she added.
Blood transfusion patients in local hospitals are at times referred to Malindi, Kilifi, Mombasa or Nairobi.
