The Ministry of Health has tabled before parliament a request of Shillings 20.5 billion meant to finance different strategies and critical areas by the Uganda Blood Transfusion Services (UBTS).
This is aimed at mitigating blood shortage in the country.
Led by the Minister of Health Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng before Parliament’s Health Committee, Dr. Dorothy Kyeyune Byabazaire, the UBTS Executive Director told legislators that they have recorded low blood collections due to the covid-19 pandemic.
She noted that they had collected only 56,850 units of blood from April 2020 to date against a target of 75,000 units of blood.
However, the Minister Dr. Aceng said that they had developed strategies for addressing the blood shortages during the pandemic.
She said that the interventions are aimed to maintain the balance between reduced blood supply and hospital demand so that sufficient blood stocks are maintained to support ongoing critical needs like major trauma and maternal hemorrhage.
Dr. Aceng defended the budget saying that it is urgently needed to meet the increased cost of operations by the UBTS.