Kano Blood Drive Hits Record 108 Pints

One hundred and eight people gave blood at the Kano Cancer Treatment Centre on Saturday as the Global Shapers Community held its thirteenth annual drive and urged Nigerians to treat voluntary donation as routine, not a last resort.

Sumayya Umar Tofa, curator of Global Shapers in Kano, said the day’s units would go to women in obstetric crisis, crash victims, people with anaemia and children with blood disorders after laboratory screening for infection. Per FRCN, last year’s drive took 86 pints.

According to Tofa, partnerships could lift a single day toward 200 units and carry the work beyond Kano. The group also runs a matching service when a patient’s relatives cannot give. Médecins Sans Frontières also joined this year’s collection to support its free clinics in the city.

Umar Halliru, assistant head of nursing at the centre, standing in for chief executive Dr Nafisa Abdu, described three steps: a fitness screen, the donation itself, then 15 to 30 minutes of rest. Donors were told to eat protein, carbohydrate, vegetables and fruit and to drink water afterwards.

Medical laboratory scientist Shamsuddeen Muhammad Abubakar said bags were 250 millilitres for children or 450 millilitres for adults, assigned after checks on age, weight, vital signs, donation history and packed-cell volume. Donors must generally be 18 or older and wait the required gap between gifts. Units are tested for HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis before use.

Mustapha Abdulwaseeq, 29, called the act charity for people he might never meet and said a pint can be the difference between living and dying. Tofa asked companies and aid agencies to put more weight behind the next drive.