The exercise is to collect blood to stock the blood banks across the country and will have over 30 bleeding centers in all 16 regions.

A statement issued in Accra quoted Mr Samuel Koranteng, the Corporate Services Executive of MTN Ghana, as saying "The MTN Ghana Foundation instituted the blood donation exercise to collect blood to improve health delivery.

The statement said the initiative has been phenomenal and it is important to sustain it.

It said "In view of our commitment to save lives through blood donation, the Foundation is appealing to members of the public to come out in their numbers to express their love on Valentine's Day by donating a pint of blood to help save a life."

It said the project was an annual Valentine's Day blood donation exercise, organized by the MTN Ghana Foundation.

The initiative gives MTN staff and other individuals the opportunity to donate blood and stock the National Blood Bank and other regional hospitals.

 The initiative, which started in 2011 was in response to calls made by the National Blood Service for voluntary contributions to replenish critically low stocks of blood. In all over 14,000 pints of blood have been collected.

 In recognition of its efforts, the MTN Ghana Foundation was adjudged the highest corporate blood donor in 2013, second highest corporate donor in 2014 and one of the highest corporate donors in 2015.

It said MTN Ghana Foundation was committed to brightening lives of communities across Ghana.

The statement expressed the hope that Foundation through the continuous partnership with members of the public, many lives would be saved through the exercise.