South Sudan Red Cross appeals for blood donation to save woman’s life at Juba Teaching Hospital

JUBA – South Sudan Red Cross Tuesday appealed to the general public to donate blood to save life of an unnamed woman who is awaiting surgery at Juba Teaching Hospital.

Mr. Joseph Lukak, Head of the South Sudan Red Cross Juba Branch, said a blood donor is urgently needed at the public hospital to conduct an operation on a woman with a fracture.

“As we speak now, there was a case referred from Kajo-Keji a week ago. This woman had fractured. She fall and she had a fracture,” Lukak told reporters during the closing session of a two-day workshop on road safety in Juba on Tuesday.

“Now this woman is here in the hospital, she needs 0-negative and from now, this is the third day we have been looking for 0-negative.”

Lukak is pleading with anyone with a 0-negative blood group to donate blood to save the life of the woman.

“If anybody is there with O-negative please even today donate so that we can at least help this woman. Whatever we are collecting from the blood donation campaign is not enough,” Lukak said.

“We are able to get two units of blood but now this operation couldn’t happen because of one unit. We can’t get 0-negative it is a very rare blood group.”

He said blood shortages at hospitals in Juba are causing unnecessary deaths.

“Shortage of blood is huge; the demand versus the supply is a very big problem in this country, particularly in Juba here.”