Bohol Council aims for Accessible, safe blood
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TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Feb 17, 2012, (PIA) – Making easily accessible safe and ample blood supply for Boholanos would be Provincial Blood Coordinating Council’s (BCC) main mission, says Board Member Cesar Tomas Lopez.
“And in the long run, setting up of more blood banks and perhaps a blood screening center for Bohol may not be far-fetched,” the legislator physician added.
Explaining the rationale of the newly reorganized council following an ordinance enacted in the late 1980s, Lopez, who also sits as the Council Vice Chairman to Governor Edgar Chatto said pushing for the enabling ordinance rejuvenating the Council would be part of his sworn service to Bohol and to humanity.
“The Blood council would be the initial step in correcting a flawed system in the local blood supply network where a healthy and properly screened ready for transfusion blood can be had quickly,” he explained.
“Blood is life, and like an engine, a body that does not have ample supply of blood will eventually conk out,” he shared at the recent Kapihan sa PIA Thursday.
The council vice chair also campaigned for voluntary blood donation to prop up the local blood supply inventory for easier access to Boholano patients in need of immediate transfusion.
He was citing cases of poor patients from far flung towns practically rendered helpless in cases when there is a doctor’s request for blood transfusion.
At the current situation, requests for blood transfusion can be granted but the patients would have to find a suitable blood replacement donor so the local stocks are not depleted.
The tough situation is compounded by the fact that there is no blood center in Bohol.
In such a case, blood units collected and typed in Bohol Blood Service Facilities and recognized blood collection centers including Mobile Blood Donations are sent to Cebu for blood screening which is also into extracting other blood components for specific use.
A blood center is a blood service facility that has the capability of blood screening for infectious diseases, one that can practically declare a blood unit safe for transfusion, Lopez said.
Only Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital and the local Philippine National Red Cross are Department of Health accredited Blood Service storage facilities here, its screened blood supply coming from Cebu Blood Center.
In Bohol, according to Lopez, who is also a physician by profession, this process entails at least a day of screening, making the blood not readily available for immediate use.
As such, the blood units available would also put a patient paying for the blood processing, which runs up to thousands of pesos making it prohibitive to the indigents, Lopez said.
The reorganization of the council also signals the formation of a team that is sworn to make blood within the reach of patients especially those belonging to the indigents, he asserted.
Lopez then bared the plan to set up a mechanism to make a reliable inventory of blood units in key areas in the province and a monitoring system that minimizes the loss of blood due to un-use. (30)
