– Health MinisterAlthough there is an increasing number of persons who donate blood, there still remains a dire need for blood donation, according to Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy.? As such the Minister said that the Ministry of Health through the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) is on a mission to change the culture of voluntary blood donation whereby persons move from donating once per year to multiple times. “Having persuaded more people to become donors, we now have to persuade people to be multiple donors in a given year.? I believe we can meet these requirements…” Minister Ramsammy noted.He pointed out that while the efforts of the NBTS, which is being coordinated by Ms Shameeza Mangal, have proven to be exemplary there is still a need for collaborators.? Without collaborators, the Minister noted that it would be an impossible task to recruit the necessary quota of voluntary donors even as he added that it would certainly not be cost-effective for the public health sector to hire additional people to recruit. For this reason, he said, the NBTS must rely on external collaborators.? And there have been a number of organizations and individuals, Minister Ramsammy said, who have come forward to help build the stock at the NBTS.? One such collaborator,Cheap China Jerseys, he said, has been Swami Ashkananda, who is attached to SEVA Guyana, a Non-Governmental Organisation which is part of an international network of Hindu charities.? Blood drives held under the purview of SEVA Guyana are held in the month of May to commemorate Indian Arrival Day and are normally hosted at the Saraswatie Vidya Niketan School at Cornelia Ida.According to Minister Ramsammy, the organisation has been able to assist the Ministry of Health in transforming how collaborators work.? “In his first effort with us Swami had set a target in 2007 and we collected 56 units. In 2008 we had set a target of 170 and we collected a total of 195…this represented then the largest blood drive in the Caribbean, ever.”However,Wholesale Stitched Jerseys, a satellite collection at Cummings Lodge on the East Coast of Demerara, in 2008 reaped a total of 20 units which was magnificently surpassed the following year with a collection of 214 units, an amount which became the new Caribbean record. Last year a recruitment drive saw the collection of 262 units which presently represents the largest single blood drive collection in the Caribbean,Nike Tns Wholesale, according to Minister Ramsammy. “So far through this collaboration, which is a total of four years, we have collected 727 units of blood…This is a phenomenal achievement,” Minister Ramsammy stressed.This year, SEVA Guyana plans to continue its drive, targeting the Guyana Police Force and GUYSUCO on the West Coast of Demerara, according to Swami Ashkananda.? “Our main support comes through temples. We visit temples over a period of time and it is through the membership of temples we have been able to support the Ministry of Health.”From left: Ms Shameeza Mangal, Minister Leslie Ramsammy and Swami AshkanandaHaving conducted blood drives over the years, Swami Ashkananda noted that it has been observed that realising a targeted blood collection goal in a single day may not always be possible.? As such the blood drive will be held on May 21st and 22nd with a target of 400 units.? This target, he revealed, is in fact strategic as it closely represents the number of Indian Indentured labourers who had arrived in Guyana in May of 1845.But even with the increase in blood collection, Minister Ramsammy noted that “we still cannot guarantee everyone blood when they need it.”? For this reason, he said, the Ministry of Health is urging persons who have received blood as well as their family members to voluntarily donate to the NBTS.? In the meantime though, he noted that the support of additional collaborators are being solicited,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, adding that blood collection is now possible in Regions Two,Air Max 98 Sale, Three, Four, Five, Six and 10.? However, he disclosed that blood collection points have not yet been established in Regions One, Seven,Cheap Jerseys Store, Eight and Nine.? At the moment the bulk of collection is possible in Regions Four, Three and Six, Minister Ramsammy said.