The Gombe State Sickle Cell Society has advocated establishment of a dedicated blood bank, to reduce risk of sickle cell related complications.

The chairman of the association, Ibrahim Musa, made the call in an interview with journalists, in Gombe on Saturday.

Mr Musa said establishment of a dedicated blood bank would ease difficulties experienced by patients’ relatives in searching for blood donors.

“The dedicated blood bank will no doubt increase voluntary blood donations from the public, thereby easing the hardship being encountered by patients searching for blood during emergency situations,” he said.

He said that some members of the association lost their lives due to the inability of their relatives to get a blood donor at the appropriate time.

The chairman urged stakeholders and donor agencies to assist sickle cell patients with food and medications.

“We are appealing to donor agencies and spirited individuals to provide free medications and food to the sickle cell patients in villages and remote areas of the state.

“Currently, we have 10,000 registered members across the 11 local government areas of Gombe State, and most of them are less privileged, they could neither afford food nor routine drugs,” he said.

He decried spate of non compliance to the genotype test before marriage in some communities, in spite of the advocacy, counselling and awareness campaigns conducted by members of the association. 

(NAN)