MTN Collects 1645 Pints Of Blood

MTN Ghana Foundation has donated over 1,645pints of blood to the National Blood Service (NBS) through a recent blood donation exercise that was conducted at its headquarters at the Independence Avenue in Accra. The annual Valentine’s Day blood donation campaign, dubbed ‘Save-a-Life’, was aimed at restocking the National Blood Bank as well as blood banks in Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Effia-Nkwanta Hospital in Takoradi, Tamale Teaching Hospital, Bolgatanga Regional Hospital and Cape Coast Regional Hospital. According to Cynthia Lumor, MTN Ghana Foundation executive director, the event had over the past five years collected over 2,000 pints of blood for various medical facilities across the country, with its major patronage from volunteered blood donors as well as employees of the telecommunications company.

Speaking at the event on Friday, Mrs Lumor said MTN Ghana Foundation with the help of its volunteers hoped to help Ghana achieve the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) goal of obtaining 100 percent voluntary and unpaid blood donation by 2020. . She added, “Last year, we set out to collect 700 pints of blood. I am happy to say that with the support of all our volunteers and partners, we were able to exceed that target and collected 1,135 pints from nine collection points across the country.

This year, we want to push ourselves harder, so we have set the target at 1,200 pints that we hope to collect from nine centres in Accra, Cape Coast, Sekondi, Takoradi, Tarkwa, Kumasi, Asante Mampong, Tamale and Bolga.” MTN employees as well as the general public came in their numbers to donate freely to support the cause across all six regions. “We see what we do at MTN as enabling endless opportunities, and as we prepare to show love to family and friends on Valentine’s Day, it is also important that we enable endless opportunities for others by giving the gift of life to those in need, ” she added.

 Joyce Oppong Adu, a senior blood donor recruitment officer at the NBS, urged Ghanaians to pick up the habit of donating blood to help save lives. MTN Ghana Foundation’s annual Valentine’s Day Save-a-Life blood donation campaign has been consistently recognized for its positive impact. MTN has received awards for being the highest corporate blood donor in 2013, second highest corporate donor in 2014 and one of the highest corporate donors in 2015.