Residents donate blood to victims

Some residents of Abuja on Saturday responded to the call for blood donation by the National Emergency Management Authority for victims of Thursday’s Nyanya bomb blast.

Senior officials of NEMA told our correspondent on Saturday that what was critical to many of the victims was proper treatment, which would not be possible without sufficient blood for transfusion.

At the Wuse General Hospital, relatives of victims expressed willingness to donate blood for their loved ones and others affected by the explosion.

While calling on the government to stop the insurgents from causing further havoc in Abuja, some of the relatives said they were worried that the number of victims in public hospitals in the Federal Capital Territory had increased.

“This people (terrorists) should be stopped from gaining entry into Abuja at all cost,” said a victim’s relative, who identified himself as Mr. Harold Thompson.

“Go and take a look at the wards, theatres, intensive care units, emergency departments and even on passages in some hospitals, you will find people with wounds. Within two weeks there were two explosions in a capital city, this is alarming and government really has to sit up,” he said.

The Senior Information Officer, NEMA, Mr. Sani Datti, said the agency’s priority was to ensure the victims were treated before considering releasing relief materials to them.

He said, “What we are doing for now is to see that their wounds are treated because the most important relief now is medical. This is what they need for now and our director-general visited the hospitals to check the conditions of those affected and they are being attended to.”

NEMA had called for blood donations from the public due to the increase in the number of victims affected by the blast.

Another resident who gave his name as Justin, decried the fact that some of those affected by the April 14 blast were not yet discharged before another explosion occurred on May 1.

He said, “We are yet to have our cousin discharged and now another explosion has occurred and this has increased the number of wounded persons here.

“Government has to make sure that this doesn’t happen in Abuja again, if not, there won’t be room for people in our hospitals.”