ILOILO City – About 90 percent of the Philippine Red Cross’ Western Visayas blood donation activities had been called off due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, according to Dr. Dennise Roy Pasadilla, manager of Red Cross’ West Visayas Regional Blood Center.
Although Pasadilla was unable to provide the actual count, he said the buffer stock of blood is limited.
“Our office supposedly collects blood every day but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, only our skeletal force renders duty. What we do is we ask blood donations from towns without positive cases of COVID-19 and have zero person under monitoring,” said Pasadilla.
The doctor called on volunteers from Iloilo district hospitals to sustain their blood supply.
The Ramon Tabiana Memorial District Hospital (RTMDH) in Cabatuan, Iloilo was first to heed the call.
Pasadilla said it has already sent the first batch of its blood donors, who are also hospital personnel.
The RTMDH has also committed to send five or more staff members every weekday to donate blood.
Meanwhile, Pasadilla said the Red Cross here is open to blood donations from individuals who have recovered from COVID-19.
During a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) on April 9, President Rodrigo Duterte urged those who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate blood following studies showing that their antibodies may help improve the condition of patients with severe symptoms.
“We are waiting for the guidelines from the national headquarters because we have a machine here that is capable of doing the procedure,” said Dr. Dennise Roy Pasadilla, manager of Red Cross’ West Visayas Regional Blood Center.
The guidelines will lay down who would carry out the procedure, where to perform it, and the billing terms, among others.
Pasadilla said the guidelines would also identify the age of the donor and the laboratory tests he/she should undergo before the extraction of blood.
The machine at the West Visayas Regional Blood Center is the same as that being used at the Philippine General Hospital.
“We use the machine in getting blood platelet but we can reconfigure that to get plasma,” Pasadilla said.
As of April 19, Western Visayas had 49 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of these, eight recovered while seven died.
The recovered patients included a 22-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man from Iloilo province; a 61-year-old woman from this city; a 56-year-old man and a 28-year-old man from Bacolod City; a 45-year-old man from Capiz province; and a 41-year-old woman from Negros Occidental province.
“We are willing to accept if we have guidelines but so far, we have no donor and no request,” said Pasadilla. (PNA/PN)
