Commissioner of Insurance, Dr. Justice Ofori declaring August as ‘GHANA INSURANCE INDUSTRY BLOOD DONATION MONTH‘.
Ghana’s Insurance industry has declared the month of August as its blood donation month.
The move is part of efforts to support Ghana’s health sector, particularly the blood bank to have sufficient blood for the care of patients.
This comes after a renowned Cellular Pathologist and a former Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa made a clarion call on the Bank of Ghana (BoG), financial institutions and other state bodies in the country to voluntarily embark on regular blood donation exercises.
The call, according to the former Head of the Pathology Department of the University of Ghana Medical School, is necessary to help stock the blood banks across the country, which are fast running out of blood to save lives of people in need.
Prof. Akosa speaking at a ceremony to mark the end of a nationwide blood donation exercise by Ghana’s Insurance Industry which was launched on August 19, 2021, by the Commissioner of Insurance, Dr. Justice Ofori.
Citing superstition as one of the challenges creating lack of interest in voluntary blood donation the renowned Professor demystified that fact, saying, “the body can regenerate itself; and even in regenerating itself you would say that your body has given itself a booster during that period of regeneration.”
Prof. Akosa went on to appeal to the Central Bank and the civil service to designate a month for their staff to donate blood.
“What if Dr. Addison came out to say that if the Insurance Commission has taken August, the banks will take April or March, just a month preceding Easter and he as the Oga (Governor) of the banking service can then marshal the entire banking system including rural banks, and all the financial institutions, and my God, will that not help?”, he quizzed.
He suggested that the spirit of volunteerism should also be inculcated in Senior High School students especially for blood donation purposes while commending the NIC for the initiative, and all regulated insurance entities for rallying behind the Commissioner to make the 2-month long campaign a success.
In his address, the Commissioner of Insurance, Dr. Justice Ofori stated: “This exercise, which was under the auspices of the National Blood Service (NBS) couldn’t have come at a better time as the Covid-19 pandemic had taken a toll on gestures of this nature, leading to dwindling stocks while accident victims, pregnant women in labour cry out in need of blood to survive. I will, therefore, urge all corporate entities and state institutions and members of the public to take a cue from this campaign to save lives.”
Other speakers at the ceremony included the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Blood Service, Dr. Justina Ansah who said continuous and voluntary donation was critical to replenishing the blood banks, explaining that the novel initiative by the NIC is a move in the right direction as she described blood as an un-manufacturable drug which can only be made available through voluntary donations.
The insurance industry was well represented by leaders of all industry bodies such as the Ghana Insurers Association (GIA), the Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana (IBAG), the Chartered Insurance Institute of Ghana (CIIG), and the West African Insurance Companies Association (WAICA).
The 2021 donation campaign which saw over 800 units of blood donated by the insurance industry employees was under the theme: ‘Donate Blood, Save a Life; If You Do It For Someone, You Do It For Yourself.”
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio