The National Association of Seadogs (NAS) popularly known as the Pyrates Confraternity, has donated a dozen pints blood to the blood bank of the Federal Medical Centre(FMC), Abeokuta to enhance its readiness to respond to emergency in accident cases and during surgery.
The donation was done by members of the Confraternity from Ash Montana Deck, Abeokuta, who presented themselves first for medically screening before making the donation in their voluntary blood donation campaign for the referral health centre.
The group also settled over N150,000:00k hospital bills of two indigent patients.
Vice Chairman of the Ash Montana Deck, Eromosele Okoghe said the gesture formed part of the NAS’ humanitarian ideals to support health workers and hospital in the onerous task of saving lives in emergency situation and during surgery.
Also, NAS’ National Chairman Information and Communication, Mr. Yemi Akintunde, while speaking on the theme: “Blood Donation To Promote Health And Wellness,” appealed to members of the public to join the campaign and cultivate the habit of engaging in voluntary and free blood donation for the sake of humanity.
He said that members of the association were in the habit of donating blood free to tertiary medical institutions in the country whose blood banks were understocked to save lives of those in emergency conditions or suffering from diseases that sap patients’ blood.
Akintunde appealed to the management of the FMC to make judicious use of the blood donated and reduce the service charge on patients who need them so that donors could be encouraged to donate more.
He said, “We are mobilizing our members and the general public, you can see that more members are here to fully donate the blood too. We have for today 25 donors and we are going to 100. If you go through our website you will see one particular aspect that we call the medical vision this particular advocacy is under the medical aspect.
“It is free of charge we do this often because we are aware that the culture in our society does not encourage the free donations of blood and now people come to give blood for money and this is the campaign we are doing that we all need it at a point in time whether as a result of emergency or as a result of decease of old age.
“Most people are not aware that if you donate willingly you will be certificated. People will come and donate and they say they want to collect money, no!. You don’t do that because blood is given freely by God. If you donate it free and by the time you are in need of it of course you will get it freely too that is just the irony you may never need it in life but you have donated to humanity. We are targeting one hundred.
“If you don’t need it somebody close to you will need it that is the reason why we are out now telling people that they should come and find time to willingly donate that blood so that they will be available by the time their loved ones needed them. We are targeting an 100 for FMC Abeokuta as it is going on here, it is also going on in Ijebu Ode and some other part of the southwest.
“What we will always employ them to do is to always help the NGOs by making them proud and they can always achieve that when they make this blood available to people when they are in need. The kind of behaviour health practitioners when people give donations free it suppose to reflect on the charges we are not saying that they are not going to pay but reduce the cost of service on the blood so that people can be encouraged to donate.”
