Members of the public have been urged to come out in large numbers and donate blood in a bid to save lives of millions of pregnant mothers who lose their lives due to over bleeding during birth.
Dr Johnstone Akatu, acting County Director of Health said Mama Ye is a partner who is seeking to find ways of saving mothers lives. “We have been losing so many mothers in Bungoma, main reason being bleeding. The only way to save the mothers is availing blood.”
Statistically, the county referral hospital delivers an average of 500 to 600 mothers in a month.
Webuye sub-county delivers around 400 to 450, Lugulu almost 300, while Kimilili around 200.
This shows that the number of deliveries is quite high.
In 2018 – 2019, the county lost over 50 mothers due to bleeding. A third of them could have been saved had there been enough blood in the hospitals.
Akatu emphasized on the need for the public being informed about voluntary blood donation.
“We are going to launch an accosted budget for blood donation where we are going to ensure that all our facilities can get blood at any given time so that we curb the deaths of our mothers due to over bleeding during birth.” He said.
Joan Sitati, beneficiary of Mama Ye blood drive said she didn’t think she would be alive had it not been for the blood that was donated.
“I experienced excessive bleeding during birth but it was brief even though I lost my child, I thank god for saving my life.”
Head of Bungoma transfusion center Thomas Wekesa said they are currently serving a total of 16 hospitals with 8 being public, 5 private and 3 feed based hospitals. The center is able to collect an average of 600 units of blood per month which meets the demand needed in the county additionally serving neighboring counties like Kakamega, Busia and even Trans Nzoia.
“We are able to achieve this because of the support we get from key stakeholders in this programme. We are currently engaging religious leaders who are reaching out to their congregation on the need to donate blood, the Bungoma business community because we cannot achieve this call on our own.” He added.