By Magdalene Njoki
Brian Rono a University student at the Technical University of Mombasa, interacted with several students who shared different sad stories of finding it difficult in getting blood while in hospital.
Brian and other students came together in February 2019 and formed a community-based organization called RedSplash with an aim of holding blood donation drives in order to save lives of people who need it during critical conditions like road accidents.
The Kenya National Blood Transfusion Service (KNBTS) website places the annual blood demand nationwide at 500,000 units with its 27 donation centres countrywide rising about 164,275 units annually for an estimated 200,000 recipients.
The team that consists of students aged 18-25 came up with a mobile application named RedSplash. Once you register and log in to the application, you get a notification on the latest medical appeals for blood donation. Also, the type and amount of blood needed by the patient are indicated, the hospital they are in is also highlighted and their phone number too.
Also, a share button is placed in each appeal to enable the message to be disbursed to various social media platforms.
This initiative was introduced due to the shortage of blood in Kenya in the blood bank thus forcing some patients to spend more than Sh40,000 for a blood transfusion. And to also encourage Kenyans to donate blood voluntarily.