Members Highlight Dire Need of Resources

Chaired by Prof. Tetanye Ekoe, members of the Committee met on 19 July 2024 at the conference hall of the National Blood Transfusion Service. They examined the use of funds put at the institution’s disposal and also observed insufficiency in financial and human resources, two major factors hindering the effective deployment of the National Blood Transfusion Service. Prof. Tetantanye Ekoe highlighted that Benin’s Blood transfusion service had a whopping CFAF 5billion as its running budget in comparison to its Cameroonian counterpart that had less than a billion, largely insufficient to cover running cost and allow for the recruitment of the much-needed staff. In his remarks to pressmen, Prof. Tetanye alongside the General Manager of the NBTS, Prof. Dora Mbanya nonetheless said they are optimistic that the technical and financial supervisors together with international partners would come through to make available funds that should help the NBTS speed up actions in promoting blood donation. The annual need of blood pints in Cameroon estimated at 400.000 pints is yet to be covered with only 157 000 collected as of recent statistics.