BY SUKHDEV CHHATBAR
Construction of a modern Blood Bank at the Mount Meru Regional Referral Hospital in Arusha has reached 56 per cent with the facility expected to open before June 2027, ahead of the much-awaited Afcon 2027.
The President of the Rotary Club of Arusha Mount Meru, Ms Judith Lohay, said the Sh.680m/- project was on course but required a further Sh287m/- to complete. She said a fundraising event was being considered for January and appealed to well-wishers to contribute whatever they could to help ensure the facility opened as planned.
She was briefing Rotary District 9214 Governor, Mr Daniel Ddamulira, of Uganda during his visit to the construction site last week. The Rotary Club of Arusha Mt Meru is promoting the project.
Mr Ddamulira urged well-wishers and residents to continue contributing towards the project, saying the facility would help to provide safe blood to patients in need. “Blood is crucial for life-saving,” he said.
Ms Lohay said the building’s structure, roofing and plumbing had been completed while electrical fittings were being finalised. “By next month, we hope all the windows will be fitted,” she told The Arusha News. Rotary International’s then President-elect, Mário César Martins de Camargo of Brazil, launched construction in May 2025.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, construction committee chairman , Mr Moses Mahuna, said donated blood had to be transported more than 80 kilometres from Arusha to Moshi for testing and storage. The process, he said, could take more than a week, creating difficulties for patients requiring urgent transfusions.
Blood is needed for patients with childbirth complications, people injured in road accidents and those undergoing emergency surgery. Delays in obtaining tested blood could affect the hospital’s ability to provide timely treatment, he had cautioned.
Mount Meru Hospital’s Medical Officer-in-Charge, Dr Alex Ernest, has put the hospital’s monthly requirement at between 450 and 500 pints of blood. The planned facility is designed to store 600 pints. The hospital allocated a 441-square-metre site for the project. Planned facilities included a donor reception area, blood-testing laboratories, cold storage rooms and administration offices.
