BAGUIO CITY – The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) here is urging eligible individuals to continue donating blood to save lives including in this time of pandemic
Jenelyn Tere, donor recruitment officer of Red Cross-Baguio, on Friday said the people who regularly need blood are those who have kidney ailment and are undergoing dialysis treatment, those who have leukemia, those with anemia, and those who undergo an operation.
She said there are instances when other patients need to be infused with fresh blood due to a medical condition.
Tere said that during the pandemic, walk-in donors have become scarce, thus depleting the available supply of blood.
“In a day, about five to 20 walk-in donors. They come for donation because they were asked by a patient to donate for his needs,” Tere said.
There are instances when a patient needs more than one bag of fresh blood, thus the need to bring more walk-in donors to meet the requirement of a relative at the hospital.
“Para ma-assure (so that we can assure) that the blood supply dito sa (here in) Baguio is enough. ‘Pag may mangangailangan ng blood, magdadala sila ng donors para at least meron maibigay or replacement para may magamit ang patient in need of blood (if someone needs blood, they bring donors so they can replace the blood they received from the blood bank for others to avail it),” she said.
She said they cannot just rely on the available supply (as this may easily deplete), so the replacement policy is being applied.
“Kung aasa lang tayo sa stock natin, karamihan doon baka hindi natin ma-serve (if we just rely on the available stock, we might not be able to serve everyone),” she said.
She said that before the pandemic, there were blood donors from mass blood donation activities of schools, organizations, groups and companies who come in at least three or four times a year or every three months.
She clarified Red Cross does not sell blood.
“What is paid by the client is screening fee to make sure that what they get for their sick relatives is not contaminated,” Tere said.
Tere assured that blood released by the Red Cross for transfusion is safe and clean.
“The blood will undergo screening for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, malaria, syphilis and HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus) before it can be released to the hospitals,” she said. The said illnesses are infections that can be transmitted thru blood. **By Liza Agoot, PNA
