The County Government has broken grounds to commemorate the start of construction of a blood transfusion centre in the county.
Bungoma County Health Chief Officer Patrick Wandili who was among those who among those who performed the breaking ceremony said the county had been trying to construct the bank centre for a while but due to budget constraints, the project was postponed constantly.
“For us, this is a dream that we want to come through because as a region we need this centre like yesterday. I am happy that this financial year we have managed to allocate money for it,” said Mr. Wandili.
The project is expected to relieve off long travel to Eldoret and Kisumu to get blood. Moreover, there are plans to also get an oxygen plant in the country.
Lack of blood
According to Bungoma’s CEC for Health Anthony Walela, 50% of mothers die in in the county while giving birth due to lack of blood. Dr Walela noted that there are only six blood bank centres in the country and the western region has none with the nearest ones being in Eldoret and Kisumu.
“There are different components in the blood that include red blood cells, platelets, plasma, white blood cells that must be broken down and a times patients do not need all the blood but a specific component that can only be retrieved in a blood bank. Faith-based and private hospitals within the county also require access to blood for free,” said CEC Walela.
Bungoma County Referral Hospital medical superintendent David Wanikina asked residents to come out and donate blood. He noted that the county gets most of its blood from schools and now that the schools have closed it’s a big challenge.
“We have a huge population as the fifth most populous county in the country and we need to collect about 2000 units of blood every month that will go a long way in saving lives. We have close to 50% of our children and expectant mothers in wards who cannot go through surgery due to lack of blood and I want to make a passionate appeal to our people to come out in large numbers and donate blood to save lives,” said Dr Wanikina.
