Make blood donation compulsory

Good samaritans donating blood have become rare in Uganda

The revelation by the Director of Uganda Blood Transfusion services that Uganda faces a shortage of 140, 000 units of blood (41%) of the required amount of blood every year which has resulted into the death of thousands of Ugandans got me puzzled.

If there is a shortage of blood and people are dying, I don’t see why the government has to plead with the public for blood donation. If the youth who are eligible to donate blood are unwilling, government should force them.

I always thought blood donation is an issue of saving lives to which all of us must adhere to.

Why should thousands of Ugandans have to die every year simply because there are people who don’t want to donate blood?

If it needs going to schools, universities, and organizations to get blood, there is no need to hesitate. At one point or another we are all going to need that blood one day. So, why does the government have to play nice about it?

With the frequent occurrence of accidents today, it’s quite clear that no one is safe to say that they will never need a blood transfusion. It may happen that you may not suffer an accident but what happens if one of your loved one gets involved?

I believe this issue of blood donation is self-explanatory but if we still have people who don’t understand the relevance of the availability of that blood, there is only one thing we can do and that’s to make blood donation compulsory.  If that doesn’t get Uganda Blood Transfusion service the blood that it needs then I don’t know what will.

It’s high time we stopped tolerating  nonsense and save lives. If it needs punishing defaulters then measures should be put in place.

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