Online appointment system for blood drives
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) now has an online appointment system to coordinate its blood drive activities.
Medical doctor and blood donor organiser at the NBTS, Dr Dania Levy, said the online system is one of several measures put in place to facilitate social distancing.
“You can visit our website at nbts.gov.jm and click on the tab for appointment pre-registration. We still welcome walk-ins so if you are unable to make an appointment you can still come in,” she advised.
“We specifically ask for people who intend to participate in blood drives to set appointments and pre-register for the purpose of crowd control and social distancing,” she added.
Dr Levy said the appointment system coordinates all of the NBTS’s collection centres islandwide. These are NBTS (Blood Bank), Kingston; Cornwall Regional Hospital, St James; Falmouth Hospital, Trelawny; Kiwanis Blood Collection Centre, National Chest Hospital, St Andrew; Mandeville Hospital, Manchester; May Pen Hospital, Clarendon; Port Antonio Hospital, Portland; Savanna-la-Mar Hospital, Westmoreland; St Ann’s Bay Hospital, St Ann; and University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), St Andrew.
She said that people and institutions interested in hosting their own blood drives can contact the NBTS for assistance.
“We will create a link for their blood drive individually. They can spread the word to their friends so they can make an appointment to preregister,” she noted.
