• Kenya has six regional blood storage centres in Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu, Eldoret, Mombasa and Embu
• KTTA chief executive Rebecca Kiptui denied that Kenya faces a shortage of blood
Image: FILE
The government has tasked saccos with mobilising members to donate about 1,000 litres of blood by Saturday next week.
Speaking in Nairobi CBD yesterday, Cooperatives PS Patrick Kilemi said the blood will be collected through drives across the country next week.
This is a voluntary exercise agreed upon by leaders of the cooperative movement to mark International Cooperatives Day on Saturday.
“In Kenya ahead of the celebrations, all cooperatives countrywide will donate 2,000 pints (about 946 litres) of blood to the Kenya Tissue and Transplant Authority,” Kilemi said.
“We have set three days for the exercise and we are urging Kenyans to come in large numbers to donate blood to help patients in our hospitals.”
He spoke during a blood donation drive to stock the country's blood bank.
The exercise was organised by KTTA and the National Council for Ushirika Day Celebration.
Kenya has six regional blood storage centres in Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu, Eldoret, Mombasa and Embu.
Earlier this year, KTTA chief executive Rebecca Kiptui denied that Kenya faces a shortage of blood.
She said Kenya collected 348,715 pints of blood in 2022, 70 per cent of the targeted total of 500,000 pints and the highest collection since Independence.
KTTA regional manager Festus Koech said there’s a target to reach 80 per cent of Kenya’s blood needs this year.
The rare blood groups that are much needed are the rhesus negative: A negative, B negative, O negative and AB negative.
This is because less than two per cent of Kenyans have those particular blood groups.
“That is why when we have a shortage of these blood groups, we see appeals being made to Kenyans to donate blood to stations being manned by KTTA to save the lives of Kenyans,” he said.
PS Kilemi said according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), each country should have one per cent of population of blood pints.
“So in Kenya, the national blood reserve ought to have a national target of 520,000 pints, which is one per cent of the country’s population of 52 million Kenyans,” he added.
Cooperative Alliance of Kenya chairman Macloud Malonza said cooperative societies contribute a lot in the provision of universal healthcare.
“Donating blood to KTTA is a response to President William Ruto's clarion call for the delivery of UHC. Equally, this is part of social responsibility to the community,” he said.
He said saccos have intensified product development tailored on health provision and thus benefiting poor Kenyans.
The availability of safe blood and blood products is a prerequisite for various healthcare services.
These include surgeries, treatments for cancer and other acute and chronic medical conditions, trauma care, organ transplantation and childbirth, all lifesaving procedures.