‘Blood not for sale in public hospitals’
THE National Blood Services Zimbabwe (NBSZ) has said blood is free in public health institutions across the country and that patients should report cases of payment demand to release blood.
Addressing journalists at the launch of this year’s festive season blood campaign, NBSZ chief executive Lucy Marowa said blood was free in mission, municipal and State-sponsored hospitals and urged people to report cases of monetary demands for provision of blood in public health institutions.
This comes against a background of complaints relating to demands for cash for a patient to get the life-saving product.
“When you go to a government hospital, to a mission hospital, to a State-sponsored hospital, to a municipality hospital, you should get blood for free,” she said.
“We have been circulating messages to say blood is free; should you be made to pay for blood, please report on the available numbers.”
She said private health institutions had a user fee chargeable per unit.
“And this user fee is the same price that the government pays for you to the National Blood Service. While you are getting it for free in a public institution, it’s because the government has absorbed that cost and is paying the National Blood Service directly to meet the value chain of making sure that we continue to operate as a service and be able to continue to give that service,” Marowa said.
The price for blood in private institutions is US$240, she said.
Marowa said the festive season campaign, which will run under the theme Jingle all the way to the blood bank, targets 7 800 units.
The campaign runs from December 1 to mid-January.
“We are going to achieve this target through community blood drives, 93 pledges, 25 blood collections that are going to be scattered all over the country,” she said.
“Our Bulawayo, Harare, Mutare, Masvingo and Gweru clinics will be operating both from static centres as well as from various mobile clinics that we operate throughout the country.”
The static clinics will be open throughout the campaign except on December 25 and 26 and January 1, 2026.
Marowa said they were on course to achieve the annual target, adding that this year had proven to be better than last year.
“In 2024, we achieved a total collection of 77 120. That was from January to December and already, for this particular year, we are at 73 000, meaning that we are going to surpass what we got from January to December 2024,” she said.
Annually, the blood bank targets 97 500 units.
Traditionally, the festive season is affected by an increase in road traffic accidents.
NewsDay
