The act of donating blood has what is perhaps the ultimate cost to benefit ratio: it costs absolutely nothing, except for a little time, and it literally saves lives.
That message was driven home last Saturday to dozens of people who had never donated blood before, during what was a hugely successful blood drive at the National Blood Transfusion Centre.
The event saw the people at Xarabank teaming up with the blood bank and one of Malta’s biggest celebrities at the moment, the country’s Eurovision hopeful Gianluca Bezzina, for what was one of the most successful blood drives on record.
Over the course of the day, no less than 280 people turned up to turn up their sleeves and donate, and over half of those donating last Saturday did so for the first time.
Not only that, but by the time of closing, there were still people queuing up outside to donate. This was a more than satisfactory result and one that will hopefully have set the ball rolling by having raised enough awareness for the momentum to be continued.
Bezzina, a doctor by profession, was on hand drawing blood, signing autographs and meeting and greeting donors, many of whom were no doubt initially drawn to the blood drive by the enticement of meeting the Eurovision aspirant. But they left having done so much more than that.
Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia was on hand to donate and pledged to lead by example by committing himself to do so every three months. Also on hand were other well-known people such as European Commissioner Tonio Borg, Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia, former health minister Joe Cassar, Nationalist Party deputy leader Simon Busuttil and last year’s Eurovision contestant Kurt Calleja. Gratitude to all these personalities that led by example, and special thanks also go out to the donors who turned up in droves last Saturday.
Regular blood donors also deserve recognition, as do the growing number of private companies and other organisations whose employees and members regularly donate either as part of their corporate social responsibility programmes or out of general social responsibility. Every individual effort should be commended.
Blood transfusion is an essential part of medical care and there can never be enough blood on hand, as evidenced every time the blood bank runs dry of certain blood types. A safe, sustainable blood supply system is critically important to the health care system of this country and in fact of every country.
And those people who donate regularly are doing the country and their fellow citizens a literally priceless service - a blood supply program is an expensive and time consuming, and it always depends on a large and reliable pool of healthy blood donors.
It cannot be stressed enough that blood donations are an absolute necessity for the health system, it is symbolically the ultimate act of charity and the reality is that there is no telling when you yourself may need to rely on the blood donated by others.
The National Blood Transfusion Centre which is located to the right of the main entrance to St Luke’s Hospital in Gwardamanga. It is open daily between 8am and 6pm (including Sundays and public holidays). Prospective donors are required to present their identity card or driver’s licence.
Blood can also be donated at Mater Dei Hospital near the brown wards on Mondays between 2 and 7pm or at the Gozo General Hospital from Mondays to Saturdays between 8.30 and 11.30am. For any information, visit www.blood.gov.mt or call 2206 6219.
As the Roman poet Virgil wrote, ‘The greatest wealth is health’ and through their donations blood donors everywhere contribute in a personal and meaningful way to the creation of sustainable, safe, healthy blood supplies that save lives every day.
It doesn’t cost anything, except a little time. It is relatively painless and it ends with a replenishing drink and small snack. You never know when your own life may depend on the blood donated by others so do yourself and your fellow citizens a favour and begin donating regularly now.