A Doctor's Open Letter

This was sent round by Dr. Bose Afolabi. The last time laspapi donated blood was last year. Time again to leave no man behind.

Hello,

Please help me save lives.

How?
By donating blood.

Why?
Because people are dying daily from unavailability of
blood. And it is not for want of our trying.

A high percentage of maternal deaths (i.e. death
during pregnancy and childbirth) is as a result of
bleeding that could easily have been treated by prompt
blood transfusion. Just last weekend, I had 2 very ill
women who needed blood, whose blood group was not
available in the hospital. It was only by the
vigilance of the head of haematology (blood services)
who called all over the state to get blood that these
women's lives were saved. I have hundreds more of such
stories of women who were not so lucky.

How can you help?
Please make a date to come and give blood. A healthy
adult can give a pint of blood (500ml or one third of
a big bottle of Eva water) every 6 months with no
problems whatsoever.

Also, please mobilise friends, family, employees,
colleagues, church members, mosque members, etc to
donate now AND REGULARLY. The muslim associations in
the Luth community are excellent and donate blood on a
regular basis.

Will it disturb your schedule and is it safe?
It takes less than 45 minutes and is also done on a
Saturday. The hours are Monday - Saturday 8am to 6pm,
Blood Bank Lagos University Teaching Hospital,
Idi-Araba, Lagos. If you can organise more than 10
people in your location, arrangements can be made for
people to come out to your office, etc.

I gave blood on Wednesday the 22nd and i went on to
continue working for the rest of the day. You need to
drink a lot of fluid after and refrain from strenous
exercise or activity. The only discomfort is the
slight pain from an initial finger prick (to ascertain
you have enough blood in you) and the needle that goes
into you to take the blood. I am sure you will agree
that the benefits far outweigh the inconvenience.

Sorry about the long email but please give your blood
and save lives. Because you can.

Dr Bosede B Afolabi
Consultant/Senior Lecturer
Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
College of Medicine/Lagos University Teaching Hospital
Lagos, Nigeria.