Avoidable deaths are on the rise as Nigeria’s blood banks fail to deliver blood to patients requiring transfusion to survive. From accident and emergency units to maternity wards, the shortage of blood in the nation’s blood banks leaves families shattered, doctors helpless, and turns treatable health conditions into death sentences, especially during emergencies. SODIQ OJUROUNGBE reports
When nine-year-old Emmanuel (not real name) slumped into his mother’s arms that Sunday morning, his skin waxy pale and lips tinged with a frightening bluish hue, there was no mistaking the urgency. His body was wracked by months of battling leukaemia, a type of cancer that affects the blood-forming tissues, primarily the bone marrow.
What Emmanuel needed, urgently, was blood transfusion. Not just any blood; he needed type O-negative, one of the rarest blood types in the world. And in that moment, as his mother cradled him in the back seat of a tricycle racing through the chaotic streets of Lagos, she was ready to do everything in her power to save her precious son, but fate had other plans.
Nurses moved quickly to the Surulere General Hospital, where Emmanuel and his mother arrived breathless and desperate. A doctor assessed Emmanuel, hooked him to an intravenous, and scribbled on a chart.
“He needs blood. Now,” he said, with a clipped urgency. The word ‘now’ hung in the air like a warning bell, but the cruel reality was that there was no blood to give.
Emmanuel’s mother, a schoolteacher, blinked in disbelief. “I said, I will pay. Whatever it takes. Just get it,” she told the doctor.
But the hospital’s blood bank was already empty. Not a single unit of O-negative blood was available. Calls were made to nearby private labs and facilities with no positive response. All their hope was on a donor who had promised one of the private laboratories to come but never did.
While health workers at the hospital and relatives were looking for a way out, time was racing against Emmanuel; he did not have until tomorrow.
Emmanuel’s breathing grew shallow, and his hands turned cold. Under harsh fluorescent lights and helpless stares, the boy’s life quietly slipped away.
Speaking with PUNCH Healthwise, Emmanuel’s mother, Joyce, said she couldn’t understand how a country of over 200 million people does not have a single unit of blood in its banks to save one child.
“They kept telling us to ‘find blood,’ but where were we supposed to find it? We ran from one hospital to another, from one lab to the next, and the blood banks were empty. All we got were excuses or price tags we couldn’t afford,” she recalled, fighting back tears.
She added, “I watched him fade in my arms, and there was nothing I could do. The doctors tried, but their hands were tied. Without blood, they were just as helpless as we were.”
From giving birth to a breathless end
Gloria (not her real name) was 32, a young mother of three, and the fourth, just born, had barely let out its second cry before the haemorrhage began.
The labour had been difficult, the kind that forces midwives into whispered prayers and leaves everyone pacing the hallway outside. But it wasn’t the delivery that killed her; it was what came after.
By the time she was wheeled into the operating theatre, her skin was already losing colour. The whites of her eyes had turned a yellowish tinge, and her breaths were short, panicked, and fast, like someone drowning on dry land. Her blood pressure was crashing, her pulse erratic. Her womb had emptied itself of life, and now her veins were following.
The doctors acted fast. There was no time to waste. She needed blood urgently and desperately. Not a pint or two, but eight to ten units, at the very least, to save her life.
Unfortunately, the blood bank at the hospital located in one of the teaching hospitals in the Southeast could offer only two units.
The theatre lights buzzed above as the surgical team paused, momentarily frozen by the weight of helplessness.
One of the anaesthetists who witnessed the scene narrated to PUNCH Healthwise that he was helpless because he had just donated blood barely a month earlier for a previous emergency, a road traffic accident victim who had been wheeled in half-alive and left the ward wrapped in white.
He wanted to donate again, badly, but he hadn’t yet passed the 90-day threshold required between donations. It would be dangerous for both him and the patient.
He said others, including junior staff, patient relatives, and even a ward assistant, came forward. Unfortunately, their packed cell volume was too low. For men, a PCV below 40 is a red flag, and anything below 35 for women is not right.
He lamented that most of the volunteers’ PVC was below 30, which means their bodies simply didn’t carry enough blood to give.
Time moved slowly. Seconds turned to minutes. The two units of blood helped, briefly. Her pulse picked up. Her colour brightened for a flicker of time. But it was like trying to put out a wildfire with a teacup of water.
Soon, the bleeding returned, faster, more furious. Her heart staggered, monitors beeped wildly, and before they knew what was happening, the new mother was gone.
The doctor lamented, “It was a devastating loss. We had done everything we could, but it wasn’t enough. The lack of blood led to her death.
“It is a recurring nightmare. We see it time and time again; patients suffering, families in distress, and medical staff powerless to act.”
In a country where safe blood is as scarce as electricity and clean water, the deaths of Emmanuel and Gloria are just part of a larger pattern of silent, avoidable tragedies.
Every day across Nigeria, patients battling anaemia, haemorrhage after childbirth, or undergoing routine surgeries are left stranded by the absence of a substance that should be both abundant and accessible.
Despite the urgency, blood banks are running dry, not only in Lagos but in hospitals across the country. From urban trauma centres to rural clinics, the mantra is the same: ‘No blood available.’
PUNCH Healthwise gathered that while most of the blood banks across the country are empty, blood has turned into a costly commodity, selling for as much as N35,000 per unit.
During the investigation, it was discovered that the shortage has left patients in urgent need dying, suffering complications, or left stranded, not for lack of medical care, but because the very lifeline they need is missing, or priced far beyond reach.
Blood now a scarce commodity
According to the World Health Organisation, a country needs a minimum of 10 units of blood per 1,000 population annually to meet its most basic transfusion needs.
For Nigeria’s population of over 200 million, that would mean at least two million units each year. But the global health body estimated that barely 500,000 units are collected annually, about 27 per cent of what is required.
PUNCH Healthwise’s findings revealed that the shortage of blood availability in the country is tangled in a web of cultural hesitation, broken infrastructure, poor funding, and a deeply flawed donation system.
It was discovered that voluntary blood donation, the standard globally, is abysmally low in Nigeria.
Our correspondent gathered that the majority of donations are still driven by replacement or emergency needs. Patients are often asked to come with family members or friends who can donate on their behalf.
In some cases, commercial donors, often poorly screened, are used as a last resort.
The idea of walking into a blood bank simply to give, without prompting or reward, is alien to many Nigerians.
This deeply rooted perception, combined with myths and misconceptions about blood donation, continues to hinder efforts at establishing a safe and consistent national blood supply.
Confirming this shortage, the Director-General of the National Blood Service Commission, Prof. Saleh Yuguda, explained that blood donation programmes in Nigeria face numerous challenges rooted in societal attitudes, infrastructural limitations, and systemic weaknesses.
He noted that one of the most pressing issues is the low rate of voluntary, non-remunerated blood donations.
He attributed this to limited awareness, inadequate donor mobilisation strategies, and misconceptions about blood donation, adding that infrastructural inadequacies and funding constraints also hinder efficient blood collection, testing, and distribution.
Yuguda lamented that many lives are lost not because of a lack of medical expertise but because safe blood is unavailable when needed.
Also speaking on blood becoming a scarce commodity, the founder of the Timilehin Leukaemia Foundation, Janet Bamidele, lamented that she has seen firsthand how devastating the lack of blood can be, especially for children battling life-threatening conditions like leukaemia.
Bamidele, who lost her son to leukaemia in 2014, stressed that until Nigerians understand that blood is a right and a shared responsibility, the country will keep losing lives needlessly.
She added, “In getting blood, I see children die because they cannot get blood.
When a senior patient needs blood and they cannot get it, before you know it, they start bleeding from anywhere. That’s when they don’t have platelets in their body. And you can’t get platelets without first getting blood.”
“It is very, very difficult to talk to someone to come and give their blood. Some will tell you they are afraid their blood will be used for sacrifice. Others say they don’t trust what will be done with it or claim that people in hospitals are selling the blood.
“Even when you explain that blood is universal, that there’s no difference between blood in Nigeria and blood anywhere else in the world, many still hesitate. But in other countries, people walk into hospitals just to donate blood. It’s a part of their culture. Here, we don’t have that culture.”
Sold at exorbitant price
Although the National Blood Service Act (2021) prohibits the sale of blood and mandates that all donations should be voluntary and non-remunerated, investigations by PUNCH Healthwise revealed that blood has become an expensive commodity, one that is not affordable for the poor.
During the investigation and visits to some facilities, including private laboratories, it was discovered that while blood is sold between N35,000 and N45,000, depending on the location, rare blood types like O-negative are sold for as much as N55,000 to N60,000, especially when urgently needed.
Our correspondent discovered that blood has become more transactional, with many of the facilities expected to provide blood operating with empty blood banks. Patients and their relatives are left to struggle and are often milked dry by these commercial entities.
In the course of the investigation, our correspondent, who pretended to need blood for a supposed best friend who had an accident, visited several private laboratories located within Lagos and Ogun States.
While prices varied based on location, it was discovered that despite the transactional nature of blood acquisition, blood is not readily available in many of these facilities.
He was told that he needed to inform the hospital at least 24 hours in advance for them to contact their donors, who would then be examined to determine fitness, compatibility, and safety before the blood could be sold.
An official in one of the laboratories, who did not disclose his name because he was not authorised to speak, said, “We sell blood here at a fixed price of N35,000, but you will need to tell us ahead so that we can get our donors to come and get screened and also do cross-matching before we can go ahead.
“It is not just possible for you to come now and want us to give you the blood immediately. We don’t keep blood for more than 48 hours because we don’t have the capacity to store it. So, we must be informed ahead.
“We pay our donors based on the units given, and we try to ensure they keep to standard, even though it is profit-making for us.”
When our correspondent visited some general hospitals in Lagos and parts of Ogun State, it was discovered that blood banks are often flooded with individuals who approach distressed patients and their relatives, offering to donate blood for a negotiable fee.
In many of these places, the so-called donors are willing to collect between N25,000 and N30,000 to pretend to be relatives of the patient and donate under the replacement system that has become common practice in many facilities.
It was also observed that many blood banks often tell patients and their families that they don’t have enough blood in stock.
In situations where a patient may need as many as seven units, only two or three units may be available, with hospital staff informally advising families to engage with the individuals lurking around who are ready to donate for a price.
Opeyemi Usman, a relative of a young woman who needed three units of O-negative blood, told our correspondent that not only was the hospital unable to provide such a rare blood type in the quantity needed, but the family was also told to urgently find fresh O-negative blood themselves.
He said, “We were asked to look for it, and we are looking for someone who will be willing to donate blood for us like this. We really need this because it is an emergency for our sister, but we have not been able to yield any positive result because it is hard to get O-negative.”
PUNCH Healthwise discovered that the combination of high costs, scarcity, and black-market-style transactions has made blood a privileged commodity, available only to those who can afford to pay or are lucky enough to know someone willing to give.
Family blood donation system
Across Nigeria, our correspondent discovered that a quiet shift is taking place in how hospitals manage blood donations for patients, especially expectant mothers.
It was observed that many hospitals have implemented the replacement blood donation system, a practice where relatives of patients donate blood in advance or in exchange for what the patient may eventually need.
This system, which is becoming a cornerstone of hospital blood management policies, involves pregnant women being advised, or in many cases required, to bring their husbands or close relatives to donate blood as early as the 30th week of pregnancy.
This proactive approach, PUNCH Healthwise learnt, was aimed to ensure that compatible and readily available blood is on standby should complications such as haemorrhage arise during childbirth.
Hospitals, particularly those with high maternal caseloads, have embraced this policy as a practical response to Nigeria’s longstanding blood shortage challenges.
During visits by our correspondent to both Gbagada General Hospital and Ifako-Ijaiye General Hospital in Lagos, it was discovered that this system has been formally integrated into their antenatal care routines.
At Gbagada General Hospital, hospital staff confirmed that the policy was introduced to enhance emergency preparedness in labour wards.
A nurse simply identified as Bioye said, “We have seen too many cases where we had to scramble for blood at the last minute.
“Now, we ask expectant mothers to bring a relative, most often their husband, to donate blood by the time the pregnancy reaches 30 weeks. It’s a precaution, and it has saved lives.”
Also, our correspondent discovered that at Ifako-Ijaiye General Hospital, the system is not just policy; it has become part of the requirement for childbirth.
A maternity ward official noted that the replacement system also fosters a stronger sense of involvement from partners during the pregnancy journey.
“Husbands feel more responsible and connected to the whole process,” she said.
According to a consultant anaesthetist based in Abuja, who requested anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media, this practice is steadily becoming entrenched across the country, especially in tertiary and secondary healthcare institutions.
He said, “This trend is not isolated to Lagos or Ogun alone. It has become a national thing. A lot of hospitals now advise that once a pregnant woman enters the second trimester, around 25 to 30 weeks of gestation, it is time to start preparing for any emergencies. That includes ensuring that blood is available. And often, that means asking a close relative, usually the husband, to donate.”
The anaesthetist explained that around the 30th week of pregnancy, a woman is considered potentially ready for labour at any time.
“From 30 weeks onwards, anything can happen. She can go into labour prematurely, and there could be bleeding, or other emergencies. But if a family member donates blood ahead of time, and that blood is stored properly, it can literally become a lifesaver.”
He emphasised that this proactive system of blood replacement is being widely adopted by medical facilities, not just as a policy directive but as a real solution to Nigeria’s chronic blood shortages.
He, however, did not shy away from pointing out the flaws in the system.
He added, “One of the biggest challenges is that a lot of the blood that was supposed to be reserved for emergencies ends up being commercialised. There’s this whole issue of market sharing within some blood banks. What should be a pure, life-saving measure is sometimes turned into a money-making venture.”
“Yes, there are good people who manage blood responsibly. There are doctors and lab managers who store it and ensure it’s used only when truly needed. But unfortunately, there are also ‘Judases’ among us. Even Jesus had Judas.”
Needless deaths
Despite innovations like the replacement blood donation system and increased family involvement, maternal deaths continue to cast a long shadow over Nigeria’s healthcare system. Every year, thousands of women die during pregnancy or childbirth, many from preventable causes like excessive bleeding, commonly known as postpartum haemorrhage.
According to WHO, Nigeria contributes nearly 20 per cent of global maternal deaths, with bleeding accounting for a significant share of these fatalities.
While replacement blood systems offer a ray of hope, PUNCH Healthwise’s findings revealed that the reality on the ground remains deeply troubling.
Even at hospitals where the family donor system is now standard practice, staff still recount stories of women who could have been saved if blood had arrived on time.
One senior midwife, who asked not to be named, described a case that still haunts her.
“She was just 28. First pregnancy. There was a complication during delivery, and we needed blood urgently. The husband hadn’t donated yet, and the blood bank was empty. She didn’t make it. And all because we couldn’t get a single pint of O-negative,” she told PUNCH Healthwise.
These are not isolated tragedies. In Gbagada, Ikeja, Abuja, and Kano, stories like these echo through hospital corridors and maternity wards.
While policies have changed on paper, infrastructure gaps and logistical failures still kill women in real-time.
The anaesthetist from Abuja also stressed that while family blood donations can be life-saving, they are not foolproof.
“In emergencies, timing is everything. You can’t start looking for blood after a woman has already lost too much. That is why we urge donations before the final antenatal visits. But even then, there is no guarantee. If the blood is mishandled, misallocated, or sold, as happens in some cases, then what’s the point?”
PUNCH Healthwise gathered that the blood shortage crisis in Nigeria extends far beyond the maternity wards.
Every day, victims of road traffic accidents, gunshot wounds, and other emergencies die, not from the injuries themselves, but from the lack of available blood to stabilise their condition.
The Director General of NBSC, during the celebration of the third National Blood Donor Day in 2024, said that the majority of those who die from road traffic accidents die because of a shortage of blood.
Our correspondent gathered that there are frequent reports of delays in accessing blood supplies, contributing significantly to preventable deaths.
Victims with internal bleeding, open fractures, or organ damage often require urgent transfusions.
When blood is not available, due to empty blood banks, type mismatches, or storage failures, lives are lost within minutes.
The anaesthetist, who has worked in the emergency ward before, stressed that the most advanced equipment or surgical expertise is rendered useless when blood is not available to sustain the patient through treatment.
Doctors donate blood to patients during emergencies
In the face of persistent blood shortages, some Nigerian doctors have gone beyond their professional duties, offering not just their skills but their own blood to save patients in emergencies.
While the act of a doctor donating blood during a shift may sound unusual, or even extreme, it is becoming a quiet but recurring reality in overstretched hospitals across the country.
Sharing their experiences with PUNCH HealthWise during an interview, the physicians said that blood scarcity had reached a stage where doctors now donate blood to save the lives of patients because there is no blood in the blood bank in most of the nation’s hospitals.
A consultant haematologist and Associate Professor at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Dr. Titi Adeyemo, said, “I have donated blood to save the lives of patients. I have even brought my own son to the hospital to donate blood to save a pregnant woman. So, this is our personal experience all the time.”
A public health physician at a general hospital in Ogun State, Dr. Fisayo Owolabi, shared a similar account:
“I have donated blood twice for patients during emergencies. One was a teenage accident victim; the other was a woman with an ectopic pregnancy.
“You just can’t sit back and watch someone die when you know you can help, even if it means giving a part of yourself,” he said.
Also speaking, the consultant anaesthetist stated that the severe shortage of safe blood in Nigeria’s hospitals is forcing health workers to operate in desperate conditions.
According to him, many health professionals donate blood to the system regularly, but when there is an emergency, the same health workers are sometimes asked to provide blood again, even when they have recently donated.
He added, “Following this paucity of supply, health workers are left with nothing to give. After donating regularly to the blood bank, they are now made to provide blood that we don’t have, blood that might have already been used.”
He described the situation as both exhausting and unsustainable.
Some health workers, he noted, are disqualified from donating again because they have done so within the past 90 days.
The anaesthetist stressed that the lack of awareness among the general public about the importance of voluntary blood donation is at the root of the problem.
“We need a lot of public health education. The average Nigerian needs to know that if you’re healthy, you should walk into a blood bank, get screened, and donate at least one unit of blood. It’s life-saving for the recipient and beneficial to the donor too,” he explained.
He further noted that voluntary blood donation is not just about helping others; it is also a preventive health check.
“When you donate blood, it can reveal early signs of pathology in your system, maybe hepatitis, HIV, or anaemia. And if you’re healthy, your blood becomes like a drug for the next person. You’re literally saving a life.”
Cultural beliefs and ignorance
Experts have identified culture and lack of awareness as major problems preventing Nigerians from donating blood.
The physicians stressed that there is a need for Nigerians to change their orientation and cultural perception about blood donation and become regular donors to save lives.
Adeyemo lamented that the blood supply does not meet demand in the country.
The haematologist said, “Globally, blood supply doesn’t meet blood demand. But the problem is more in Sub-Saharan Africa because we have a poor blood donation culture. So, for that reason, a lot of people are not donating blood, which makes it difficult to meet our blood requirements.
“The World Health Organisation has calculated it and has said that for any country or community to be able to meet its blood requirement, 50 per cent of the people must be committed blood donors.”
Adeyemo stated that besides cultural barriers to blood donation, lack of education and orientation, as well as blood touting, are also contributing to the shortage.
“Perhaps, if people are better educated, then we are going to see more people being committed to blood donation.
“The government needs to spend more on orientation and education of the populace about the importance of blood donation so that we can get more people committed to blood donation. This will help blood to be available in our hospitals for patients requiring transfusion,” she said.
According to her, pregnant women who are giving birth, road traffic accident victims, people with sickle cell disease, as well as cancer patients require lots of blood and transfusion.
Also speaking, the founder of the Timilehin Leukaemia Foundation, lamented that despite the lifesaving nature of voluntary blood donation, many Nigerians still believe harmful myths about donating blood, while others demand payment before donating.
“If there is a shortage of blood, nobody can move, nobody can live. Yet people ask, ‘Why should I give my blood for free?’ When they see our banners, they call and ask how much we will pay for a pint. Some even insult us for asking. That’s ignorance, and it is killing our people,” she stated.
She stated that her foundation, which supports leukaemia patients, often has to collaborate with external partners to source blood for patients due to the scarcity of safe and affordable blood in public hospitals.
She explained, “We are in partnership with Lagos State. They handle the blood collection while we support financially. There was a time one of our own blood donors needed three pints of blood at the hospital, and because he was a donor, he was given blood freely.”
Why blood donation is important- Experts
Medical experts urged Nigerians to embrace regular blood donation as a critical measure for saving lives and maintaining personal health, warning that having excessive blood in the body could lead to life-threatening conditions, including stroke, heart attack, and blood clots.
They stressed that the benefits of regular blood donation extend far beyond helping accident victims or surgical patients.
The physicians noted that donating blood also plays a crucial role in preventing the buildup of blood components in the donor’s body, which can otherwise result in dangerous medical complications.
According to a public health physician, Dr. Olaposi Olatoregun, many people are unaware that high blood volume in the body can be harmful.
He explained that when a person has too many red blood cells, it can cause the blood to become thick and sluggish.
He said this condition, known medically as polycythaemia, increases the risk of blood clots and could lead to heart attacks or strokes.
“Too many red blood cells make your blood thick and sluggish, and this can block the free movement of oxygen, hormones, and nutrients to the cells and tissues. When these vital elements cannot reach the organs, the body begins to suffer hormonal and nutritional deficiencies,” he said.
The physician added that this high blood concentration could also lead to a group of rare blood cancers known as myeloproliferative neoplasms, which involve the overproduction of red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets.
He attributed this overproduction to genetic mutations that often go undetected without proper screening.
Also speaking, a hematologist, Dr. Rugut Kipyego, emphasised that regular blood donation is one of the most effective ways to naturally reduce excess blood levels, especially for people at risk of developing polycythaemia.
He stated that while the condition is relatively rare, it can be extremely dangerous if left untreated.
He explained that polycythaemia can be primary or secondary.
Primary polycythaemia, he said, is a form of cancer that affects the bone marrow and causes it to produce too many blood cells, while secondary polycythaemia often results from underlying medical conditions or as a side effect of certain medications.
“Thickened blood impairs circulation and can cause serious damage to vital organs. If not controlled, this can lead to stroke, heart attack, or even sudden death. That is why blood donation is not just about helping others; it’s also a vital way to help yourself,” the haematologist said.
Kipyego further advised that in some cases, removing between 500 to 1000ml of blood every one to two months can significantly improve a donor’s health, particularly those with a tendency toward high blood volume.
He added that other interventions such as diuretics, reduced salt intake, and weight management can also help regulate blood volume and prevent complications.
He called on the public to take proactive steps to monitor their health and blood composition by visiting healthcare providers regularly.
He noted that even those who appear healthy may be carrying early signs of blood-related disorders without knowing it.
What we are doing to tackle challenges – NBSC
The Director-General of the NBSC noted that many healthcare facilities, particularly those in rural and semi-urban areas, are still without adequately equipped blood banks or reliable cold chain systems.
He warned that this infrastructural deficit was compromising timely access to safe blood, especially in emergencies.
According to him, logistical bottlenecks, chronic underfunding, and the absence of consistent public awareness campaigns have also made it difficult to sustain voluntary blood donation efforts.
He said many Nigerians still seek blood only in moments of crisis, rather than through regular, voluntary contributions that are essential for maintaining an adequate national blood supply.
“Awareness remains low, and often blood is only sought in moments of crisis rather than through regular voluntary contributions, making emergency response extremely challenging,” Yuguda said.
The NBSC boss emphasised that one of the agency’s key strategic goals is to transition Nigeria to a system that depends predominantly on voluntary, unpaid blood donors, a standard already adopted by many developed countries.
He said building public trust, ensuring transparency, and intensifying educational outreach were central to achieving this objective.
Yuguda expressed deep concern over persistent allegations of blood racketeering in some public and private health facilities, describing the practice as unethical and in clear violation of national regulations.
He said illegal commercialisation of blood services was a serious problem that often flourishes in situations where oversight is weak and where desperation meets systemic scarcity.
He added, “Such illegal practices often thrive in environments where oversight is weak, blood is in high demand, and transparency is lacking.
“In some cases, the scarcity of blood leads facilities to commercialise the service, charging exorbitant fees, especially in emergencies, despite the legal and moral obligation to make blood accessible and safe.”
He cited the National Blood Service Act of 2021, which empowers the NBSC to regulate, license, and monitor all blood service providers nationwide.
According to him, any facility found engaging in blood racketeering is liable to face serious sanctions, including licence revocation, monetary fines, and in extreme cases, criminal prosecution.
He added that the Commission is already working closely with relevant health regulatory bodies and law enforcement agencies to track, investigate, and clamp down on violators.
Yuguda reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to ensuring that blood services in Nigeria remain ethical, safe, transparent, and accessible to every citizen, regardless of location or socioeconomic status.
He called on the public, civil society groups, and healthcare professionals to partner with the commission in advocating for voluntary blood donation, fighting against racketeering and holding institutions accountable.
“We are not just aware of these challenges; we are taking deliberate steps to address them. From enhancing our regulatory frameworks to strengthening oversight, from expanding rural access to launching more aggressive public sensitisation campaigns, everything is on the table. This is a national health priority, and we cannot afford to fail,” he said. (Punch)
