Westgate: Kenyans continue flocking to blood donation centres

Thousands of blood donors at Uhuru part on September 23, 2013 where they had gone to donate blood for the Westgate mall victims Photo/JEFF ANGOTE

What you need to know:

  • There is never enough blood at any one time and I urge Kenyans to continue coming out in their numbers to help their brothers and sisters.
  • At the City Mortuary, the Kenya Red Cross Society set up a counselling centre for families of victims of the tragedy amid news that more bodies were expected from the mall whose section caved in.

Kenyans continued to turn up in their thousands to donate blood for victims of the Westgate Mall tragedy Wednesday.

The Kenyatta National Hospital, which is a major blood donation centre in Nairobi, saw a continuous stream of individuals from all walks of life heeding calls from the government and humanitarian agencies to donate blood for the injured.

According to the hospital’s head of communications, Mr Peter Ithae, more than 1,500 people have so far turned up at the hospital since the exercise started on Sunday.

NEVER ENOUGH BLOOD

He said that they expected more people to donate in the coming days.

“There is never enough blood at any one time and I urge Kenyans to continue coming out in their numbers to help their brothers and sisters,” he said.

He confirmed that so far, the hospital had collected over 2,000 units of blood for the victims.

Mr Ellis Munia, a donor, said he was glad to be of assistance.

“I am here to help, and if possible I will come back if they ask for more. I really want to help the victims of this terrible attack,” he said.

It was a similar story for Ms Anne Muriuki, who brought along her three siblings to donate blood.

She had donated blood on Monday.

“As long as Kenyans continue to help in the way they have been doing, I am happy. It is good to see the turnout here and how Kenyans have big hearts,” she said.

At the City Mortuary, the Kenya Red Cross Society set up a counselling centre for families of victims of the tragedy amid news that more bodies were expected from the mall whose section caved in.

Ms Sylvia Khamati, the coordinator of the counselling centre, said they were expecting many people who would need counselling services.

“We expect that we will have a large number of people needing counselling and trauma services and my officers are ready for the task,” she said.

Dr Sobbie Mulindi of the Nairobi Hospice was also at the City Mortuary and pledged his organisation’s support for victims and families of the terror attack.

He urged the government to improve disaster prevention and care mechanisms as well as train the necessary personnel to handle such issues in future.