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Closure of schools causes blood shortage in hospitals
Students of Busoga High School in Kamuli District donate blood in 2019. Hospitals across the country are facing blood shortages which they attribute to school closures because students are the major donors of blood. PHOTO | PHILIP WAFULA
What you need to know:
- Covid-19. In April, the government announced that the country is experiencing the second wave of the pandemic characterised by an increase in the number of infections and death.
- Five variants of the pandemic were also reported in the country. As of June 27, more than 75,000 infections were registred in the country with 989 deaths.
On June 18, President Museveni instituted a 42-day national lockdown to check the spread of the second wave of Covid-19.
However, the lockdown came with challenges including shortage of blood to hospitals.
According to authorities, the major donors of blood are secondary school students and those in higher institutions of learning but with the schools closed, the supply has also gone down.
Lira Regional Blood Bank, which serves 25 health facilities in Lango Sub-region and part of Karamoja, used to collect 90 per cent of its blood from secondary school learners.
Mr Robert Pius Okello, the acting officer-in-charge of the blood bank, said health facilities in the region are finding challenges in providing services because of the shortage of blood.
“During the first lockdown, the community were turning up in big numbers to donate blood but now the challenge is coming out during this second lockdown. People need to stay at home, there is not much movement,” Mr Okello said.
He said despite the shortage of blood, the demand for it is high.
In Jinja, the area Red Cross manager, Mr Keneth Kategaya, said they are not getting enough blood.
“Blood donors are at home and are not allowed to move. Covid has worsened the situation. Our blood collection has fallen to 10 per cent, down from around 80 per cent before the Covid-19 outbreak,’’ he said.
In Busia, Dr Ibrahim Dula, the officer-in-charge of Masafu Hospital, said the facility has run out of Blood Groups O and B, leaving many patients and authorities in a dilemma.
“We only have a few units of blood Group A, to take us less than a week,” Mr Dula said.
He added that the hospital receives supplies from Mbale Blood Bank.
The blood shortage has not spared Tororo hospital either.
Mr Walter Uryek-Wun, the hospital administrator, said: “We depend on the stock from Mbale regional referral hospital which is also over.”
Mbale hospital director Emmanuel Tugaineyo said: “We do have blood in the hospital although we have one usual challenge of Blood Group O, which gets over faster than other blood groups.”
Mr Ahmed Bumba, the manager of Mbale Blood Bank, said despite the challenges they are going through, they have managed to make sure that blood is available in hospitals.
“We have gone back to our old style we used last year during the lockdown of moving from one village to another to collect blood,” he said.
He added: “We [normally] ask the hospitals to first wait on carrying out selective operations because they need a lot of blood.”
In Gulu, the district health educator, Dr Willian Onyai, said the medical teams have resolved to encourage relatives to donate blood at the hospital whenever their patients require blood.
“In Gulu, the situation is even worse because we are at the centre of the region and many people drive across to seek medical attention from here. The demand for blood is very high yet we do not have blood at the health facilities,” Dr Onyai said.
He added that the situation is made worse by the ban on transport since many potential donors’ movements are restricted.
Ms Salome Ahamin Anena, a resident of Gulu City, said her father nearly died recently when doctors demanded blood and the health facility did not have any unit.
“About two weeks ago, I took my father to Lacor hospital and was diagnosed with prostate cancer. They needed blood but unfortunately the hospital did not have it. I personally tried to donate but I fainted since I was also very weak,” she said.
She added: “I posted on Facebook for any well-wisher to come to my rescue and thank God many people showed up to donate and my father’s life was saved.”
Kamuli Mission hospital administrator Ronald Watongola warned that the blood shortage is bound to hit hardest if Covid-19 restrictions are not eased.
“I have just returned from collecting blood from Kampala and only managed to secure eight units through a struggle yet previously we could have as much as 30 units in our store,” Mr Watongola said.
Unlike in other regions, Rwenzori and Bunyoro sub-regions have adequate blood in their hospitals, the director of Fort Portal regional blood bank, Dr Archbald Bahizi, said.
“For us here we don’t rely on students only. We also get blood donations from members of the community. Recently we gave Nakasero Hospital 580 litres of blood, ” Dr Bahizi said.
He added: “We serve 14 districts in the two regions and blood takes 35 to 42 days to expire. Currently all our facilities have blood,” he said.
Mr Paddy Mwesigye, the Kabale assistant district health officer-in-charge maternal and child health, said they have not had any blood crisis in the district despite the lockdown.
A shortage of blood donations and drives means patients, who already faced Covid-related delays for operations could face more problems.
Compiled by Bill Oketch, Philip Wafula, Fred Wambede, Robert Muhereza, David Awori, Alex Ashaba, Tausi Nakato, Sam Caleb Opio & Abubaker Kirunda, Joseph Omollo, Olivier Mukaaya & Polycap Kalokwera
