Public awareness on the importance of donating blood is growing in Negros Oriental with the support of local government units and the private sector, Louella Bael, chief of the local Red Cross chapter, said yesterday.
Bael said she is hopeful that a sustained campaign for blood donation will lead to more available supply at the Red Cross in Dumaguete City.
Current buffer stock consists of 12 bags of Type A positive, 45 bags of Type B positive, 41 bags of Type O positive, and eight bags of Type AB positive.
Bael said priority will be given to emergency cases, and to blood donors.
For nonemergency cases, like scheduled surgery procedures or regular transfusion for certain cases, a person may request for blood on loan, depending on its availability, with a promissory note to replace is at the earliest possible time, she added.
Bael also said more LGUs and private entities are organizing bloodletting campaigns, and drawing up lists of walking donors.
A blood-letting activity held Tuesday in La Libertad town, Negros Oriental yielded 40 bags of blood, while 18 bags were donated during a similar activity in Siaton town recently, she said.
Blood-letting missions are also scheduled in Canlaon City on Sept. 18, St. Joseph Seminary College in Sibulan town, Sept. 22, and in Dumaguete City on Sept. 28.
Bael said that, in the past, many availed of the free blood typing, which the Red Cross used to draw up a data bank, but in times of emergencies, when the donors were located, majority of them refuse to give blood.
The PNRC now charges a minimal fee for blood typing.
She added that the practice of universal donor and universal recipient in blood donation had also been stopped, as sometimes, even people with the same blood type are not compatible.*JFP
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