It has been several years now that the Ministry of Health has been advocating and putting measuresMinister of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaranin place to bolster voluntary blood donations rather than family replacement donations at the country’s blood collection locations. At the moment, voluntary blood donation stands at around 80 percent which, according to Director of Regional Health Services, Dr. Narine Singh indicates that “it is catching on.”In fact, the Ministry of Health has taken its efforts to raise awareness to an all time new level with the Minister of Health himself, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, taking to the national television station to host a programme called ‘Pulse Beat’.? Aided by Dr. Singh, the Minister has been seeking to highlight the importance of voluntary blood donation.According to the World Health Organisation, safe blood donors are the cornerstone of a safe and adequate supply of blood and blood products. As such it has been deduced that the safest blood donors are voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors from low-risk populations. Despite this, family/replacement and paid donors, which are associated with a significantly higher prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) including HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis and Chagas disease, still provide more than 50 per cent of the blood collected in developing countries.Against this background the WHO has been advocating and recommends that its Member States develop national blood transfusion services based on voluntary non-remunerated regular blood donation in accordance with the World Health Assembly resolution 28.72, which was adopted in 1975.As a result,Blank Paris Saint-Germain Jersey, the local Ministry of Health has been trying for years to achieve 100 per cent voluntary blood donations.? According to Dr. Singh, in the past, people were only known to donate blood when there was a need, perhaps when a family member or close friend was in dire need.? “In the past we even had situations where people used to actually buy blood…People would sell their blood for a price but this situation has since changed.”However, he pointed out that there is yet need for a new culture to be embraced where persons freely donate blood. He noted though that in order for this to be achieved there is need for promotion of the importance of donation and moves to further educate the public. At the moment the Ministry of Health has five fixed blood transfusion sites which members of the public can access. These include the National blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) which is located in the Georgetown Public Hospital Compound,Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys, the West Demerara Regional Hospital,Gareon Conley Youth Jersey, the Suddie,Mesut Ozil Jersey, Linden and New Amsterdam Hospitals. According to Dr. Singh, persons can visit these locations Monday throughDirector of Regional Health Services, Dr. Narine SinghFriday to donate blood. However, donations are not limited to these facilities as, according to Dr. Singh the Ministry can make available a mobile unit, upon request, which can be taken to locations where there are no fixed sites, providing that substantial donations will be made. “Usually we cater for about 25 donors and we would go to those areas and collect the blood right at those sites.”Dr. Singh explained that donating blood is a relatively simple process which is preceded by the completion of a questionnaire which seeks to gather personal information about the donor. Persons are also subjected to a mini health check-up. “We screen donors to make sure that they are not high-risk, that is, that they do not engage in high-risk behaviour…” Dr. Singh said.The criteria used to select donors require that persons must be between the ages of 16 and 50 but pregnant women are not allowed to donate. Persons must be of a certain body size which is no less than 125 pounds as according to Dr. Singh donors cannot be malnourished or anemic.? A normal healthy person, providing that they do not have any medical condition, can in fact donate blood every three months, Dr. Singh added. “This does not take away anything from you…the normal workings of the human body is that a single blood cell lasts about 120 days…after this process it would die and it would renew itself, so donating the blood is just part of this renewal process because your body would actually renew it anyway,Cheap Jerseys,” Dr. Singh asserted.The mini-health check, he noted, could also serve as a means to help detect some health issues. “A lot of the time people come to us to donate blood and they do not even know that they are hype