Vodafone Ghana on Thursday presented a cheque for GH¢2,000 to the National Blood Transfusion Services (NBTS) towards this year's Blood Donors' Awards.
The Blood Donors' Awards put together by NBTS and the Accra Chapter of Rotary Club is to reward consistent voluntary blood donors across the country as a way of encouraging others to emulate them.
Dr. Justina K. Ansah, National Director of NBTS, who received the cheque, told journalists that four national awards are up for grabs - the
three top adult national donors and one top youth donor.
She said additionally, there would be three regional awards presented simultaneously in each of the 10 regions.
Dr. Ansah said out of 150,000 units of blood needed in 2008, which is the national annual requirement, only 40,000 units came through voluntary donation.
She said an additional 100,000 units came through replacement donations by relatives of persons needing blood transfusion, but not all were safe and reliable.
Dr. Ansah explained that blood from voluntary donation was relatively safer than blood that came through replacement donation because with voluntary donation, the donors were usually honest about their health and lifestyles.
"We are therefore gearing up to undertake an aggressive campaign to encourage more voluntary donations because we are able to plan with it and we are sure of the reliability of the blood donated," she said.
She therefore called on the general public to make it a habit to do voluntary donation every four months.
Mr. Paul Ryan, Head of Corporate Communications of Vodafone, who presented the cheque, said "at Vodafone we believe in empowering Ghanaians and there is no better way to empower Ghanaians than to encourage blood
donation".
He said Vodafone would soon open its doors to the NBTS to organise blood donation programme at its offices, adding "I have been a consistent
blood donor since age 18 and I want my colleagues to know that there is nothing scary about it".
"We are currently waiting on the government of Ghana to approve of the Vodafone Ghana Foundation and then we can roll out our social responsibility programmes in full gear," he said.