By Femi Bolaji – Jalingo

The National Blood Transfusion Service, NBTS, has said blood donation should be voluntary and not something to be monetized.

The Acting State Coordinator of NBTS, in Taraba, Dr. Yohanna Samaila, who spoke on Monday, said donors should be discouraged from selling their blood.

He said, “We are discouraging the sale of blood. We want people to voluntarily donate blood especially those who are doing well in society. 

“Those who donate for money are poor people who are hungry and cannot even feed well, so their blood is not as rich as those of highly place individuals in the society.”

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Dr. Samaila further stated that the global pandemic has starved the blood donation center of funds, thus calling on more people to donate blood willingly.

“At the moment, funding is our major challenge and Covid-19 has aggravated our challenges significantly. 

“We are, however, hoping that the situation will improve,” he said.

On his part, Taraba State Chairman of the Medical Association of Nigeria, NMA, Dr. Edet Nkanta, stressed that the state government needs to do more  to salvage the blood donation center from total collapse.

Vanguard News Nigeria