The Mombasa Blood Transfusion Centre is facing a shortage of blood due to closure of learning institutions.
The majority of blood donors are students and are unable to donate to sustain the blood bank because schools are closed.
Regional blood coordinator Hamisi Kithi said that the current demand for blood is high but the supply is low.
Kithi spoke during a blood donation drive organised by Christians for Human Rights.
The coordinator urged the community to come out and donate blood for patients who are still in the hospitals.
“We have not been receiving volunteers to donate blood because people were told to stay at home,” Kithi said.
He said restrictions to control the coronavirus have kept volunteers afraid of breaking social distancing directive away.
Relatives from areas neighbouring locked down coast counties cannot reach hospitals to donate blood for their loved ones, he said.
“I have been receiving calls from different people from Kilifi reporting that they have patients in Coast General Hospital who need blood but they are not allowed to cross the border due to the lockdown. I have done several letters to permit them to come because the exercise is aimed at filling the gap and saving lives,” Kithi said.
Kithi said delivering mothers, cancer patients, children with malaria, sickle cell anaemia patients and road accident victims who need blood have been forgotten.
He urged the media to call on the masses to come out and volunteer in blood donation drives.
Christians for Human Rights CEO Chisinye Menza said that they planned the drive on learning of the shortage in the blood bank.
“We are in a process of doing continuous civic education so that the blood donation becomes a culture among our communities,” Menza said.
He urged the government to work with NGOs by supporting them in sensitising the public on the importance of blood donations.
“Blood is always not enough if we don't donate. Our blood transfusion centre is always open seven days a week, so am urging anyone who is willing to donate to visit any time,” Kithi said.
(edited by o. owino)
