Enough blood supply for dengue patients but…

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

THE West Visayas Regional Blood Center of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) assured sufficient blood supply for dengue patients amid the dengue outbreak in the region.

Dr. Dennis Roy M. Pasadilla, manager of the West Visayas Regional Blood Center and director of PRC-Iloilo Chapter, said that they are able to serve 80 percent of the blood requirements of dengue patients this week.

“Despite the outbreak, may ara kita sufficient blood supply subong. Sang una maserve ta 50 percent, subong 80 percent sang blood requests ma serve ta gid and may mahatag gid kita,” he said in a phone interview on Thursday.

As of July 18, 2019, Pasadilla said they have 999 blood units comprised of 356 units of Type O, 268 units of Type A, 250 units of Type B, and 125 units of Type AB.

Pasadilla said they are thankful for the series of blood-letting activities that have been conducted by institutions and local government units (LGUs) especially in the month of July.

“Dako nga factor ang mga gina-organize nga blood donation drives sang mga municipalities and organization. Ang aton blood supply kay damo man subong gapanagtag nga donors and damo nagaconduct blood donation activities especially sa community on the local government level, okay siya subong nga week,” he said.

In fact, Pasadilla added that some of the organizations and blood donors cannot be accommodated by their office because of their limited manpower and capacity.

“Ang hindi naton ma accommodate nga participants subong nga July, August lang sila mapa-schedule. Damo pa tani subong mapa-schedule, garing limited lang ang capacity namon mag-accommodate sa ila, ang manpower namon especially staff kapoy naman because they are going out pa sa field,” he said.

Pasadilla underscored the need to sustain the blood supply through regular blood donation drives in order to replenish the blood units served to the patients.

“Ang importante man lang na dira at least ma-maintain and ma-sustain ang blood donation drive nga once or twice a day para mareplenish ang ginaissue sa iban nga pasyente. Amo gid na ang importante sa tanan kay dira lang kita gabase sang aton output kung pila macollect namon, amo man na mapagwa naton the next day,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pasadilla urged interested blood donors or groups who plan to conduct blood donation drives to write a letter to their office so that they can be given their respective schedules.

But not all are qualified to become blood donors, according to Pasadilla.

Persons aged 16-60 years old and weigh at least 50 kilogram (kg) are qualified to become blood donors.

Pasadilla added that they should also be physically healthy and have not taken any alcohol for 24 hours and have not smoked for two to three hours prior to the blood extraction.

The health department declared a dengue outbreak in all the five provinces in Western Visayas namely Iloilo, Capiz, Antique, Aklan, and Guimaras on Monday.

Data from Department of Health-Center for Health Development (DOH-CHD)-6 showed that the region recorded 15,746 cases with 87 deaths from January to July 6, 2019.

lloilo province recorded the highest number of dengue cases with 5,327 and 20 deaths.