Bolgatanga Regional Hospital In Need of 40-50 Pints of blood daily To Save Lives

UE  Territorial Sales Manager of  MTN Ghana, Richard Asamane exchanging pleasantry with Ibrahim Sadique of Save a Life Foundation

The Bolgatanga Regional Hospital is said to be in dire need of 40-50 pints of blood daily to save lives.

As a measure to fulfil it's corporate social responsibility and to make up for the deficit at facility, Save a Life Foundation, SLF, a health oriented NGO has resolved to partner MTN Ghana in organising voluntarily blood donation exercise twice each year.

The Director of the Foundation, Ibrahim Sadique who gave the assurance at the sidelines of a blood donation exercise in Bolgatanga said the national blood bank requires about 250 000 pints of blood yearly and this calls for concern.

He stressed that donating blood on regular basis comes with other health benefits and dispelled the common notion that giving out blood takes a longer period for one to recover.

Save a Life Foundation had since 2013 partnered MTN Ghana Foundation in organizing voluntarily blood donation exercises to help stock the blood bank at the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital.

The event is being held each year on St. Valentine's Day to give a new dimension to the celebration of the day, which has been misunderstood by majority of the youth to mean a special day for sex and other immoral activities.

On the contrary, the rationale behind the exercise was to whip up public interest on the urgent need for them to regularly donate blood as a way of showing brotherly love and compassion for persons that are in dire need of it to survive.

In an interaction with Radio Ghana, the Director, Save a Life Foundation, Ibrahim Sadique was pleased to announced that in spite of the constraints with respect to funds and logistical support, the expected outcome of the exercise since 2011 has been quite appreciable.

He said plans were afoot to organize it twice a year to meet the growing demand of blood required at the various health facilities.

The success story of MTN Ghana Foundation was not different. It has been established that the foundation in the last six years collected over 3,715 pints of blood to support the national and regional blood transfusion services.

Having realized the depth of the perennial blood shortage at the hospitals and clinics, the foundation says it was committed to creating a sustainable blood supply to help save lives.

 The Regional Territorial Sales Manager of MTN Ghana, Mr. Richard Asamane said his office was glad to be part of the annual exercise because there are plans to raise 2,017 pints of blood to save pregnant women and children  as well those that are in need.

According to him, the exercise took place simultaneously in all the ten regions of the country, adding based on  the extension of the  exercise MTN Ghana Foundation now has 12 bleeding centers which also symbolize a decade of the foundation's existence in Ghana.

For MTN Ghana, the exercise is serving as a prelude for the celebration of the foundation's 10th anniversary.

While acknowledging  MTN staff volunteers and the media for the invaluable support over the years, Mr Asamane entreated Ghanaians under 18 to cultivate the habit of donating blood any time they are called upon.

The exercise which began at 8am and ended at 6pm received high patronage with majority of donors being students from the Zamse Senior High and Technical school in Bolgatanga.

Successful donors were given certificates and other incentives to appreciate their contribution to the restocking of  regional blood bank.

Some of the students spoke about their experience during the exercise and why it was necessary for people to donate blood at any given time.

The Head Of Blood Mobilisation at the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital, Ajara Issah was also grateful to save a life foundation and MTN Ghana for the support and urged other corporate bodies and institutions to emulate same.


GBC

SDF grant for private sector operators enters its second phase

  

Senior Grant Officer of SDF, Nyadia Sulemana Nelson

The Danish International Development Agency, DANIDA, has set aside 15 million Ghana Cedis under the Skills Development Fund, SDF, to stimulate the growth of private sector enterprises with focus to supporting the Technical and Vocational Education and Training, TVET. 

 

 Under the fund, enterprises associations and companies are offered the opportunity to request for grant via an online application to give practical and high impact training to its workers provided the training will be useful to the already acquired knowledge they have. 

 

In an interview with Radio Ghana’s Isaac Asare in Bolgatanga, the Senior Grant Officer of SDF, Nyadia Sulemana Nelson said the fund had so far engaged qualified businesses on the opportunities at hand, the ground process and processes for implementation to enable them come out with very successful applications.  

 

 Background

 

The Skills Development Fund, SDF, is an economic driven intervention that sought to provide skills development for private sector enterprises. 

 

The bottom line is to support the Technical, and Vocational Education and Training, TVET, with the aim to improve productivity, competitiveness as well as household incomes. 

 

It is often said that the private sector is the engine of growth but in reality, the story seem different as most companies operating under the sector are financially incapacitated due to lack of financial discipline and proper managerial skills and training. 

 

With the fund in place, mechanics, tailors, automobile repairers, masons, tilers and a host of enterprises that operate under TVET, will be equipped with skill training to increase their hands-on activities and get value for money. 

 

Evidently, these businesses are engaged in all sectors of the economy but because their skills are not sharpened, the end result is poverty. The SDF, however believe that if such enterprises are offered the needed practical and skill training, they will be in a better position to come out with innovations that could compete with the standard of products on the global market. 

 

Nonetheless, the FDS fund is targeting deserving institutions, particularly Small and Micro Enterprises, SMEs with calls for proposals that will attract funding to assist in the training of workers. 

 

In an interview with Radio Ghana, at the sidelines of a sensitization programme for training institutions, the Senior Grant Officer of SDF, Nyadia Sulemana Nelson said the fund operates under four segments involving both formal and the informal sector. 

 

This covers innovation training development and coaching of management and supervisors. 

 

According to him, the fund is demand driven and directed at providing management training and technical support that are responsive to the training needs of existing growth oriented SMEs.

 

 Relatively, the fund would want companies to request for grant to train staff on new training areas to boost their knowledge. He explained that most companies possess the requisite skills in business but lack good management regime. 

 

This,  upshot in cost increases translating in loses. 

 

Mr Nelson said the fund is equally targeted at becoming the focal point of supporting skill training in a sustainable manner in Ghana. 

 

When this is achieved, they will be able to source additional funds from both the public sector, donor organizations and development partners so that it becomes a pool fund tailored to addressing the critical issues of skill training for businesses.   

 

On funding, Mr Nelson named DANIDA and the World Bank as the funding agencies for the first phase of the project which began in 2011 and ended in 2015.

 

 During the first phase, 55 million Ghana cedis was committed and disbursed to about 630 organisations nationwide.

 

 He was happy to announce that output on productivity among beneficiary organisations has more than tripled. 

 

He moreover used the opportunity to urged prospective applicants to forward their concept notes for consideration. 

 

Mr Nelson stressed that those identified after careful assessment and evaluation, will be asked to present a simple but detailed application for necessary approval.

 

GBC