Blood Shortage Hits Zimbabwe - Report

A shortage of blood crisis has hit Zimbabwe as NBSZ says blood supplies have reduced during the lockdown period due to shortage of consumables to be used to collect blood from donors, Health Times reports.

The development was revealed by Blood Bank’s Public Affairs Manager, Ms Esther Massundah who said:

Most of the critical items that are used to produce a safe unit of blood are imported and these challenges have not only impacted negatively on Zimbabwe but also other blood services in Africa. We are expecting arrival of part of these critical supplies by Friday 05 June 2020, which will lead us to work all weekend in order for normal services to resume by Monday 8 June 2020.

Our Laboratories will remain operational throughout the weekend to clear any testing backlog and nsure that there is some normalcy on the supply of blood to the hospitals. These above said challenges have resulted in NBSZ reducing its planned blood collection schedules and calling of blood donors to our static clinics.

The NBZS also said it wishes to inform the public that the blood shortage was not due to a shortage of donors and hoped the situation will normalise soon.

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