Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, a renowned Cellular Pathologist and a former Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), has called on the Bank of Ghana, financial institutions, and other state bodies to organise regular blood donation exercises.

He said such exercises had become necessary to stock blood banks across the country.

Prof. Akosa was the guest speaker at an event that climaxed the end of a nationwide blood donation exercise embarked on by the insurance industry in Ghana.

The National Insurance Commission, led by its Commissioner, Dr Justice Yaw Ofori, launched a blood donation campaign in August.

The campaign on the theme: "Donate blood, save a life; if you do it for someone, you do it for yourself," also had Dr Ofori declaring the Month of August each year as Ghana Insurance Industry Blood Donation Month.

Prof. Akosa said superstition was one of the challenges creating lack of interest in voluntary blood donation.

"The body has a capacity to regenerate itself and even in regenerating itself you would say that your body has given itself a booster during that period of regeneration".

Prof. Akosa commended the NIC for the initiative and all regulated insurance entities for rallying behind the Commissioner to make the 2-month long campaign a success.

Dr. Justice Ofori, said "this exercise which was under the auspices of the National Blood Service (NBS) couldn't have come at a better time as the COVID-19 pandemic had taken a toll on gestures of this nature.

"The blood stock is dwindling while accident victims, pregnant women in labour among others cry out in need of blood to survive."

Mrs. Kokui Selormey-Hanson, a voluntary blood donation advocate, encouraged people to donate freely, saying, "you would never know when it could be you or any of your close relations in need of blood".

The Insurance Industry donated over 800 units of blood to the national blood bank during the 2021 blood donation programme.