In early April, after three bomb blasts in Kandahar, the hospital received a massive influx of wounded. More than 200 of them needed a blood transfusion. But the major problem at the hospital, which has 380 beds and offers a broad range of medical and surgical services, is the lack of available blood.

This prompted the ICRC, which has a major support programme for the hospital, to launch a donation campaign, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health. This took place at Kandahar university towards the end of April. Some 40 students of various faculties were present to donate their blood to patients that were yet to need it. An awareness and information session took place the day before.

Shah Walee, from Helmand province, was one of the students who gave blood. "We heard that the ICRC was collecting blood for emergency patients at Mirwais hospital, so I and my fellow students decided to donate,” he said, adding: “This programme will solve the problem of the lack of blood at the hospital and it is important that we all feel part of this effort."

No need to ask

During the collection, 18 litres of blood were collected. "I am very happy to see that people are so aware of the importance of blood donation. For this campaign, we did not need to ask people to come; we just had to announce that it would take place and the people turned up," said the ICRC National Blood Bank Initiative Supervisor, Mr Sher Mohammed.

This was the third in a series of blood donation campaigns that the ICRC has organized since November 2007.

There are currently seven ICRC expatriate medical staff working at Mirwais hospital in the framework of its programme to support and train Afghan health-care personnel. The ICRC is focusing on improving the capacity of personnel to provide essential services, including high-quality surgical care for victims of the armed conflict and other emergencies.