The Mauritius Blood Service Bill is being proclaimed

The Mauritius Blood Service Bill, voted in March 2010, is being proclaimed this week in a bid to modernise the Blood Bank. The aim is to provide greater flexibility, autonomy and efficiency with regard to the functioning of the Blood Bank and promote staff training and research on blood transfusion.

According to the Minister of Health and Quality of Life, Mrs Maya Hanoomanjee, who was addressing students of the Rabindranath Tagore Secondary School (RT SS), safe blood and blood products are vital.

The demand for blood continues to increase, especially because of the sophisticated medical procedures such as renal transplant and cardiac surgery which are most often practised in Mauritius.

At present, an average of 150 pints is used daily for blood transfusions. Mrs Hanoomanjee appealed to private clinics to contribute to the effort of sensitising and motivating people to give blood in irder to increase the number of people who can become “life-savers”.

According to the World Health Organisation, around 92 million blood donations are collected annually from all types of donors (voluntary unpaid, family/ replacement and paid). Approximately half of these blood donations are collected in high-income countries, home to 15% of the world’s population.

Mauritius has approximately 40,000 voluntary donors, representing 2.5% of the population, who donate blood regularly. About 3,500 pints are collected each month and last year some 48 000 pints were donated.