Let’s tighten laws on blood donation by minors — Speaker

The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, has expressed concern over the use of minors in blood donation exercises in schools without the written consent of their parents and doctors’ certification.

He has, therefore, called for stringent laws to regulate blood donation exercises involving minors to protect their health and life.

The Speaker’s concern was in apparent reaction to a statement concerning a minor who died after donating two units of blood at Adjen-Kotoku Senior High School in Accra,

“The age of a minor cannot be changed and modified in any manner by any school teacher, and no teacher can also stand in the place of parents.

“If you want to draw blood from a child, you must get the written consent of the parents. From what I read and heard, this child was actually compelled to give two pints of blood,” Prof. Oquaye stated.

The Speaker further stated that “because human beings have finished in Ghana, we exploit a child, draw two pints of blood from him or her only to save another Ghanaian’s life.”

Prof. Oquaye emphasised that “until a person reaches the age of consent, which is already defined by law, you cannot draw blood from that person without the written consent of the parents and only the parents, and in fact, with a doctor’s certification.”

“Just like you cannot have sex with a girl underage, even when that person agrees, which agreement is no agreement in law, so it is in this particular case.”

Tragic

Prof. Oquaye described the death of the student as a “painful and tragic matter” that should serve as a wake-up call to legislators with regard to their own Private Members Bills.

“This is what we are there for; we seek gaps in the law and so on and close those gaps in the interest of our people who have asked us to represent them,” he said.

The Speaker referred the matter to the Committees on Constitution and Legal, Health, Children’s Affairs, and asked them to work with two medical legislators — Dr Bernard Oko Boye and Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings — as well as Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin and submit a report to Parliament within two weeks.

He also asked the Legal Department of Parliament to take up the case with the appropriate quarters for all sanctions to be applied and “the law to be strengthened to protect our children.”

Statement

The reaction of the Speaker followed a statement delivered by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Efutu, Mr Afenyo-Markin.

The MP told the House that on March 5, 2020, his attention was drawn to a news item reported by Peace FM midday news concerning a blood donation exercise carried out by the National Blood Service (NBS) at the Adjen-Kotoku SHS located in the Ga West municipality which led to the death of a student and the hospitalisation of others.

He said per the report, some of the students are said to have been coerced by the school authorities to do the donation.

According to the MP, the blood donation exercise took place at the Adjen-Kotoku SHS campus without the NBS taking into consideration the ages of the students and also seeking parental consent.  

“Mr Speaker, this story caught my attention and it is alarming because it brings to bear the fact that many organisations and individuals indiscriminately go about organising blood donation exercises without necessarily adhering to proper laid down procedures,” he said.

Mr Afenyo-Markin, therefore, called for urgent investigations to be conducted into the matter to bring to book all persons found culpable, while criminal charges were also brought against the staff of the NBS and the school authorities under whose supervision the unfortunate incident occurred.

Views 

Contributing to the statement, the MP for Klottey-Korley, Dr Agyeman-Rawlings said children should not bear the burden of blood donation in Ghana, and urged the adult population to consider blood donation as their civic responsibility.

She said per WHO recommendations, adults from 18 to 65 years were those allowed to donate blood and for those from 15 and 16, one needed the consent of their parents.

“Mr Speaker, in many of these schools we have children who are undernourished and putting that extra strain on them is unfair,” she said.

The Deputy Majority Leader, Ms Sarah Adwoa Safo, suggested the need for the deceased student to be given a state burial “because he died while giving blood to save a life.”

“This child knew no evil yet he died for his country; we have to remember this child for the good he did,” she added.