Blood service in Secunda need your blood

SECUNDA – The South African National Blood Service (SANBS) is celebrating national Blood Donor Month in June with a special focus on honouring the dedicated donors who heeded the humanitarian call to donate blood.

Ms Dot Prinsloo, donor relations practitioner of the blood service in Secunda, said millions of South Africans need blood transfusions to lead healthy lives.

“If it were not for voluntary blood donations, who knows what people would have to do to get blood when they needed it?” said Ms Prinsloo. “Who knows how many people would have access to safe blood when they needed it?”

World Blood Donor Day finds the world recovering from a unique set of circumstances.

“With many people still receiving blood transfusions in hospitals, the need for blood has not slowed down.”

SANBS’ management team encourage the government and national health authorities to support the development of necessary resources, systems and infrastructure to boost the collection of blood from unpaid, voluntary donors. The international #GiveBloodAndKeepWorldBeating movement is in honour of youth month and taps into the youth’s idealism and passion for bringing vital causes to life, such as that of those in need of blood.

Additionally, the movement strives to create change, improve health, and raise global awareness about the significance of blood donation on a regular basis.

“Attempts to save lives have been at the forefront of all blood donors’ minds, and we want to thank them for their involvement and support,” said Mr Ravi Reddy, CEO of SANBS.

“The growing realisation across the globe that giving blood is a life-saving act of solidarity, and that services that provide safe blood and blood products are a crucial part of any healthcare system is amongst the core reasons we encourage you to continue donating and raising awareness on the importance of doing so. It is worth noting that the involvement and support of blood donors are most effective when individuals commit to donating regularly. The task of getting donors to commit regularly is a great challenge and we hope that through hearing and reading shared stories from people whose lives have been saved by blood transfusions, people are motivated to adopt regular blood donation. We encourage more people to take up the cause and become life-savers by pledging to donate blood on 14 June.”

The Secunda and Bethal branches of the SANBS will be open and ready to help donors on Monday, 14 June to celebrate World Blood Donor Day by donating blood.

For more information, contact the SANBS in Secunda at 017 631 1652 and in Bethal at 017 647 5598.