The Lamu County Government has resorted to using sports and other engaging social activities to encourage members of the public to donate blood.
The Department of Medical Services has successfully organised football tournaments to influence football fanatics to join the countywide blood donation drive.
Themed “For Blood Donation Against Drug abuse”, the drive encourages players and hundreds of spectators to donate blood while and help save lives.
Speaking during one of the tournaments at the Twaif grounds in Lamu Island on Friday, Lamu Health CEC Mohamed Mbarak said this will help meet urgent demand for blood especially in the King Fahd Referral hospital, the largest health facility in the county.
Mbarak said the objective was to encourage and achieve a local-based approach towards resolving the issue as opposed to always buying blood from facilities outside Lamu County.
“We are doing these in cooperation with the sports department. The objective is to encourage people to donate blood and help save lives in the local community. As a county, we have the capacity to produce our own blood and address our demand,” Mbarak said.
He said such drives intend to go beyond the clinical need for blood to meeting the optimum demand for the entire county.
Mbarak said achieving the goal calls for every resident to consider donating blood as an act of patriotism and becoming a regular donor.
The CEC revealed that Lamu hospitals use over 100 pints every month to save lives, and that replenishing the same through regular blood drives is beyond vital.
He said blood donation is equally beneficial to the donor as it stimulates the bone marrow to produce fresh blood and immune cells.
"We will continue to hold regular social events to sensitise the public that it’s safe and healthy to donate blood," Mbarak said.
