MSD, a global healthcare specialist, hosted 'Donate for Life', a blood donation drive on October 27, in partnership with Vacsera. Almost 100 of MSD's team, including leadership, participated, giving away a total of 100 blood bags to support nearly 300 patients in need.

"We are happy to host 'Donate for life'. This is a call to action in which we hope to bring this critical health need to the forefront," said Ramsey Morad, MSD Egypt Managing Director. "As a healthcare leader with a strong presence in Egypt, we are unwaveringly committed to our community and take the public's health needs to heart. Vacsera's calls for donation have prompted our response to lead this drive and help provide patients with the blood supply that they need to survive." 

He added that this blood will go to victims of road accidents, cancer patients, children with hemophilia, patients undergoing renal dialysis, liver transplants and open heart surgeries among others. 

"We are in dire need of regular donation flows; recently blood banks have suffered a severe crisis on the back of a 50% fall in donations," said Dr Nelly Sedky, Head of the Blood Bank Sector at Vacsera. "Blood is a vital life-saving need; it has no other substitute. Vacsera has a daily collection target of 300 blood bags, each bag providing treatment for three patients. MSD's donation drive has fulfilled one third of our daily target."

"It is essential for corporations to initiate such endeavors as part of their social responsibility and community outreach, especially when it comes to something as life-saving as donating blood," said Dr. Hesham Mansour, Member of the Board of Directors of Egyblood (the Egyptian Company for Blood Transfusion Services, a Vacsera affiliate). "We are very thankful for MSD's initiative and hope this inspires many others to follow suit."

MSD has established a strong presence in Egypt. Represented by a team of 500 employees, the company operates locally via a head office in Cairo and several offices nationwide. By addressing major health issues such as chronic hepatitis C, diabetes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, MSD's innovative treatments help improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of Egyptian patients.