Chaired by Prof. Tetanye Ekoe, President of the Management Committee, the 8th ordinary session of the Committee availed its members the opportunity to recommit to ensuring the availability and safety of blood throughout the year for the population.
The National Blood Transfusion Service, NBTS is pushing forward with its mission to ensure the availability and safety of blood for the population, despite facing financial hurdles. The meeting of the Committee members in a session focused on reviewing and regularising the accounts of the institution for 2023 and approving those for 2024 comes on the heels of a successful celebration of World Blood Donor Day. Statistics show that 165,708 pints of blood were collected in 2024, up from158, 481 in 2023, representing 41 percent of the annual need.
With the expectations of Cameroonians regarding blood availability growing by the day, Prof. Tetanye sounded a note of caution in line with the financial situation of the NBTS. With a budget of CFAF 900 million for 2025, Prof Tetanye remarked that the funding gap is still wide reason encouraged members to explore different funding sources, especially in light of the current economic challenges, and highlighted the need for collaboration with NGOs and private sectors to meet the financial needs of the NBTS. “The mission assigned to the NBTS requires financing that is far from being met,” he said at the opening session.
While stating the purpose of the session which is the regularisation of accounts for the 2023 financial year on the one hand, examine and approve the accounts for the 2024 financial year on the other, Prof Tetanye urged the Committee members to gun for constructive and action-oriented discussions. “Every decision we make today will have a significant impact on our ability to carry out our missions. We all know that a balanced and well-guided budget is essential to ensure the continuity and quality of our service. The accounts we will examine today illustrate our efforts to ensure rigorous and transparent management. They also testify to our determination to make the NBTS a central pillar of the health system, guaranteeing access to quality blood, in a context where solidarity is, more than ever, a necessity.”
Worthy of note is the fact that with the backing of the French Embassy and the Etablissement Française de Sang, the NBTS obtained funding amounting to 1.3 million euros (approximately 852,800,000 FCFA). The project is to strengthen the operational deployment of the NBTS in two phases: training 500 technical staff and ramping up blood donation campaigns in communities.
At the close of the working session, the Management Committee would assess the progress of the NBTS and identify the priorities to pursue the common mission of saving lives.
Claudette Chin
