THE National Blood Services of Zimbabwe (NBSZ) says it is failing to cope with demand during the festive season and is appealing for more donations.
“Our target is to collect 6 904 units of blood throughout the festive season. If people were to come forward and support us, then we would be able to get the blood,” NBSZ chief executive officer Lucy Marowa told NewsDay yesterday.
“We keep encouraging people to come and donate blood. Basically what we are saying is that if the service is not paid for, then it cannot continue to operate. With the ministry, we invoice them at the end of the month; if they delay paying us then it also means that we delay in procuring the critical raw materials.”
Last week in the National Assembly, Bulawayo East legislator Ilos Nyoni (CCC) complained that the NBSZ was underfunded in the 2023 national budget.
“We know that blood plays a major part, particularly during the festive season where we are expecting to have a number of accidents on the roads. At the moment these various blood transfusion stocks are very low and the reason is that they are not paid on time by the relevant ministry (Health and Child Care) because of inadequate funding. It is very important that adequate funds are allocated to the Health ministry so that we are able to meet funding of this particular important part of health, which is blood and that is life,” Nyoni said.
In response, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube said: “The issue about this sector is not so much that of adequate funding, but it is about the speed of disbursement and it is a push and pull issue.”
