Making sure that there is an adequate and safe supply of blood in the country is one of the 12 legacies the Department of Health (DOH) under the Philippine Health Agenda. Towards this end, the DOH encourages the community to be a part of the noble act of becoming a walk-in blood donor.
Providing timely access through maintaining a pool of regular, voluntary and unpaid blood donors to create an adequate and reliable supply of safe blood for all is vital. Replacement donors are a thing of the past, and blood donors should be voluntary and non-renumerated.
Donating blood and blood derived products is offering an unconditional gift of life to a mother who is delivering her baby, a son who has severe loss of blood due to an accident, a brother suffering from leukemia, a child with hemophilia or a husband who needs a kidney transplant.
Who can give blood? Those who are in good health; age between 16 to 65 years old (16 and 17 years old need parents’ consent); weigh at least 110 pounds; have a blood pressure between a systolic of 90-160 mmHg and a diastolic of 60-100 mmHg; and pass the physical and health history assessments. Eligible donors are encouraged to give blood every three (3) months in order to allow the body to restore its iron stock.
On October 2, 2017, the DOH will launch Blood Olympics in generating greater involvement of people in voluntary blood donation. This initiative will sustain the effort of DOH, the Philippine Red Cross and the Philippine Blood Coordinating Council in pushing volunteerism in blood donation. The Blood Olympics will be initially launched at the DOH Central Office and will be cascaded down to DOH Regional Offices and eventually expanded to other government agencies.
“One can donate blood by walking in to any nearest blood service facility such as blood centers, hospital blood banks or blood collecting units. Selected hospital-based blood service facilities around the country are open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to assist volunteer donors who may walk in these facilities to donate blood, while other facilities are open from 8 am to 5 pm. We enjoin all potential donors to visit our Blood Service Facilities to Give Blood, to Give Now, and to Give Often,” DOH Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial remarked.
