Students donate blood to help save lives
More than 60 students lined up during one of several annual blood drives by the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) at the North-West University Potchefstroom campus (NWU) on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The blood drive was aimed particularly at first-year students.
According to the SANBS official website, thousands of patients would die daily if there were inadequate blood supplies in stock.
There are many instances when people need blood. SANBS indicates that blood is needed by women haemorrhaging due to pregnancy complications and other gynaecological complications, by premature babies, children with severe anaemia, accident trauma patients and surgical and cancer patients.
Donor relations practitioner Refiloe Tsotetsi, from the SANBS branch at NWU, said blood donation is for a good cause, reiterating that one-pint of blood can save three lives.
Tsotetsi said the blood drive at NWU is a regular one. Every year the SANBS recruits first-year students to voluntarily donate blood. She indicated that a total of 65 students donated blood on Tuesday and Wednesday.
She said the overall success of the current blood drive at NWU will be determined by the response they get from first-time donors.
A second-year masters student in corporate communication and regular student blood donor, Bianca Visagie (23), said donating blood is important because there is a blood shortage in South Africa and a lot of people need transfusions. “Students should consider donating blood because it makes you feel good,” she said.
She encouraged students to donate blood in numbers as a way of showing care for other people.
The SANBS website indicates that less than 1% of South Africans are active blood donors and a unit of blood only lasts 42 days after donation, which makes it very important for blood donors to donate regularly.
The SANBS aims to collect 3000 units of blood per day, to ensure a safe and sufficient blood supply in the healthcare system.
SANBS is a not-for-profit organisation that operates across all of South Africa, with the exception of the Western Cape.
