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Wednesday, July 16, 2008
City lacks blood supply for emergencies
DAVAO CITY -- Davao City is the biggest user of blood supply as it houses all major hospitals, but it has the least volume of readily available blood in the whole region.
"Sa entire Davao Region, ang pinakamahina sa blood donation is Davao City (Davao City has the lowest blood donation in the entire Davao Region)," said Milagros M. Viacrucis of the Department of Health (DOH)-Southern Mindanao.
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This makes it difficult for the city to deal with emergencies that require blood transfusions.
Ideally, blood supply in a blood bank for one area should be equivalent to blood donated by one percent of its population.
"Sa (In) Davao City, less than 0.5 percent," Viacrucis said. "Sa spot mapping nga namin, ang Davao City, pula siya (In our spot mapping, Davao City is colored red). That means critical area siya for blood supply.)"
Viacrucis attributes this to the lack of awareness among residents that they should regularly donate blood.
"Everybody will be needing blood in times of emergencies that can include terrorist attacks like bombings, vehicular accidents, violence in the community, and diseases like dengue," she said.
In comparison, Panabo City in Davao del Norte has been a consistent national awardee for having the biggest volume of blood donated for the past three years.
The provinces of Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley also have a stable supply in their blood bank because bloodletting is already part of the barangay activities there.
"From January to December, naka-schedule na ang mga barangay na mag bloodletting," Viacrucis said.
This is not the situation yet in Davao City, she added.
However, there is one Davao City barangay that is topping the list of blood donors nationwide -- Barangay Mahayag under village chief Romeo Baquirel.
The said barangay averages an annual donation rate of 17 percent of its population, way above the ideal one percent.
Viacrucis insists the lack of blood supply in the city is but the result of lack of proper information and awareness, making the city less capable of attending to emergencies.
Annual average use by Davao Medical Center alone is 13,000 red cell units.
At far second is Davao Regional Hospital that has an average annual use of around 4,000 units.
Tying at third are Davao Doctors Hospital and San Pedro Hospital at 3,000 units.
The DOH usually gets supply in Compostela Valley and Davao del Norte where blood supply is relatively stable.
But it becomes even more difficult for those with RH-negative blood types -- a blood type that is very rare among Asians.
Viacrucis said the technology to store RH-negative types of blood is not yet available in the country, thus what they have is a registry of people who have an RH-negative blood (types A-, B-, O-, and AB-) whom they will contact for donation if such blood type is needed.
Most of the people in their registry are from outside Davao City, she said. This means, it will take time to bring the possible donor to the city and further add up to the time it takes to collect the blood and make it ready for transfusion.
Three hours is the approximate time spent for a standard test on the blood for the five major diseases that a donor shouldn't have -- Hepatitis B and C, syphillis, HIV-Aids, and malaria.
The realization that blood banking is important to a community was realized by the Ferrazzinis when Vicente Ferrazzini was shot by the New People's Army (NPA) in Bankerohan last February 2.
"We realized that blood is very hard to find. The doctors were waiting for three hours before they could do anything for him," Joanna said during a press conference called for by the Ferrazzini family.
She added: "The doctors were complete, the nurses were there, the technicians were there, but they cannot do anything because he will lose more blood if they cut him up. We had to wait for three hours pa to bring blood to the dying body of the person who needed it."
Vicente's blood type was A-, among the rare blood types with an estimated prevalence rate of around 6.5 percent. He died in the hospital on February 4.
The Ferrazzinis is organizing a major bloodletting activity on July 25 at the NCCC Mall in Matina, this city.
Dr. Rizal Aportadera, who is heading the bloodletting activity, said the absence of blood supply is the most frustrating experience a surgeon will undergo because there is nothing a surgeon can do not unless the blood supply is available.
Thus, he said, there is a need for the public to be aware of the great need to donate blood.
He added that those who have been certified as having donated blood have priority to withdraw from the blood bank of the DOH.
For the July 25 bloodletting activity, the group is targeting to gather about 300 donors.
At least four village chiefs have committed to bring donors: Edgar Ibuyan Jr. of Bankerohan, Mar Masanguid or R. Castillo, Rolando Cagay of Leon Garcia, and Leo Aquino of Wilfredo Aquino.
Pre-screening will be held on July 23 in Bankerohan and July 24 in Agdao.
There will also be on-site screening on the day itself at the NCCC mall. (Stella A. Estremera of Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan. (July 16, 2008 issue)
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