Less than five per cent of Bahamians give blood regularly, according to a leading doctor.

Head of the Critical Care Unit Dr. Michael Darville told the Bahama Journal that there is an urgent need for Bahamians to donate blood.

“There is a need to increase the amount of donors in the donor pool,” he said while attending Doctor’s Hospital blood drive yesterday in Rawson Square.

“Additionally there is this new thing of giving blood for a reward. We discourage that. We want people to give out of the goodness of their heart simply because one day they may be giving to save their own lives. We find that populations that give for a reward tend to be higher risk populations.”

Doctor’s Hospital, in collaboration with the local chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity hosted the blood drive in Rawson Square from noon to 4:00p.m. yesterday.

It was part of the hospital’s efforts to raise awareness of donating blood and the importance of knowing your blood type among other things.

“We are dedicated to procurement of blood realising the need in The Bahamas for blood and the shortage of blood products which are always needed for surgery,” Dr. Darville explained.

“We have quite a few people who need to collect blood for various treatments so we try to procure and encourage people to give the gift of life and do it out of pure spirit and love for giving.”

Dr. Darville also spoke to the Journal about the use of the hospital’s mobile blood bank.

“We have mobile blood bank in The Bahamas,” he said.

“It is fitted to take blood from two individuals from a time. In addition we do screening inside the van. It provides luxury and comfort for the patient. We can come to your churches and civic organisations and just park and collect blood conveniently.”

But Dr. Darville said the van is not being used at its full capacity.

He also explained why his fraternity got involved.

“There was a member of our fraternity named Dr. Charles Drew who invented the modern day blood blank,” Dr. Darville explained.
He started the blood bank in 1940. It is dear to my heart and to the heart of Dr. Delon Brennen because both of us attended Morgan State University where Dr. Drew attended. As doctors we are driven to carry on his legacy in The Bahamas.”