By Adeyinka Adeniran
A medical expert and cleric, Ayokunnumi Jesubunmi and a Medical Laboratory Scientist, Fisayomi Adetayo have said many people who don’t know the importance of blood donation will be willing to donate when they see those leading them in different spheres takes the lead.
Both speakers in the separate remarks said, lives are lost daily due to the gap between needed blood in times of emergency and availability of blood in the various banks.
Jesubunmi, who presides over, RCCG, Jesus Residence, Awolowo, Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State made the remarks when he mobilised and led his members on a blood donation drive at the Blood Bank, University College Hospital, Ibadan on Saturday, to commemorate the World Blood Donor day.
He said, beyond preaching and teaching to save lives, blood donation is also a way by which lives can be saved, especially in times of emergency.
He said, “This event is a blood drive initiative. We are keying into the world blood donor day. And the reason why we decided to embark on this is because of the injunction of Jesus Christ.
“Jesus said in John 10.10, He said that the thief comes to steal, kil and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. So Jesus came to give life, which is life eternal. And He has also designated us that as I have given you life, you can also.
“So we feel that aside from preaching the scriptures, one of the ways to reach people is by at least saving their life through blood donation. We do a lot of other things, but this is part of us identifying with helping the people and saving life according to how Jesus said.”
Speaking on the importance, Jesubunmi said, just a pint of blood can save up to three people per time, hence it’s imperative in saving lives.
“As a medical practitioner, I do tell people that a pint of blood, which is around 4.5ml, can even save three people. Not just one person. And sometimes when you donate, we call something aphoresis.
“Aphoresis is dividing the blood into different components. So you will not even administer the whole blood to people. You can administer somebody with platelets. Somebody with white blood cells. Somebody with red blood cells. It is very, very good.
“When people give birth, it is not even a bad thing. Some will need blood. Accident victims need blood. Those who are going through chemotherapy need blood. A lot of people need blood. And this is something that we should encourage people. And when you even donate blood, you are even helping yourself. It is a symbiotic thing. You help the people. Your body also rejuvenates.”
He said, with the right policy, if people in leadership position lead in blood donation, many if their followers will follow suit.
“I do say that after God is government, anything that the government wants to do, it can do. The person that has the monopoly of anything is the government. So if the government is serious about anything, including blood donation, people will donate.”
In her views, Adetayo who doubles as the Vice Chairman of the Planning Committee, said blood donation is crucial and expedient since science and research have not been able to come up with formulae for blood manufacturing.
Adetayo, who is also a volunteer blood donor and a public health advocate said blood donation is compulsory because it is literally the pillar of medicine.
Noting that her years of experience had shown that demand for blood is far more than the supply in most hospitals, she said her Parish decided to embark on the blood donation drive to follow Christ step who also gave his blood for humanity.
“Because for almost all chronic conditions, illnesses, surgical procedures, medical conditions, think of everything that pertains to the hospital setting, you need blood. You need it for trauma accidents, mother and child. When you have incidences for postpartum haemorrhage. You need blood for surgical procedures and for dialysis for people that suffer from chronic kidney diseases.
“Dialysis is one of the treatments that they give to them to clear their blood of all of the unnecessary things that circulate in it as a result of the breakdown of the kidney. So they need blood to transfuse them, to wipe out toxins and wipe out excretory products. And they need blood.
“Take, for example, even cancer patients. You need blood for chemotherapy. You need blood for quite a number of things in the hospital. And the demand is outrageously more than the supply. I can remember when I had my internship here at UCH. We ran out of blood completely from the blood bank. There was literally no blood to cross-match for patients.
“And it’s even worse for developing countries and the blacks. Nigeria, as a case study, is worse for us because in Western countries, they have policies, they have systems in place to ensure that a larger percentage of their population are meeting the demands of their blood need.
“But in Nigeria and in Africa, it’s quite unfortunate for us. So that’s why we are advocating and bringing from the religious perspective that Christ gave His blood, so we also should give our blood.
“And it’s quite unfortunate that blood cannot be synthesized commercially. You can’t produce blood. You can’t prepare blood in a laboratory setting. It is only the human body system that has that ability. All accolades and credits to God for his level of creativity. It’s only the human system that has the ability to reproduce blood.
“So I think, since we are the only source of production, the government should put in place policies that will encourage people. And I also think it’s because of lack of education. There are so many myths and untrue information that is passing around in the community space.
Many people don’t have the right information about the importance of blood donation.
“So if government officials, public agencies can come and put in place policy that would actually work, it’s not just about making the policy, but also ensure that they implement the policies that they make to ensure that all these policies are obeyed at diverse blood bank centres across the various facilities in the country”, she added.
