Baguio Blood Council calls for donors as supply hits critical level

BAGUIO CITY – The Baguio Blood Council is calling on blood donors as supply of platelet concentrate dwindle due to high demand as a result of the dengue cases that require transfusions.

Dr. Celia Flor Brillantes, Baguio City acting health officer, said the council has asked the 128 villages in the city to have a list of blood donors to provide the emergency needs of patients.

Aside from leukemia patients, those undergoing dialysis as well as cancer and dengue fever patients need platelet concentrates.

Platelets are obtained from newly extracted blood or those below five days old.

Milford Umayat, Nurse II at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center's (BGHMC) Blood Center, in an Interview on Wednesday said blood supply in recent days are at critical level.

He said that on Aug. 25, there were only two bags available with 36 patients on queue. As of Wednesday, 25 patients are needing blood supplies but there are only 11 bags available.

He said they are addressing the problem through the use of the platelet apheresis machine that multiplies the platelet from a qualified donor by five to meet the demand.

Likened to the dialysis machine, the platelet is extracted directly from the donor with the process taking about one hour and 30 minutes.

"Using the machine that require special tubes worth about P15,000 is quite expensive that is why blood vessels of the donor is a major consideration aside from the perfect condition of the body of the regular blood donor," Umayat said.

Meanwhile, the Baguio Eye Health Team (BEHT), composed of ophthalmologists, optometrists, members of the Luke Foundation, personnel of the Social Welfare Office and the Department of Education, is training over a hundred barangay health workers (BHW), barangay nutrition scholars and barangay day care workers on basic eye screening in a bid to help the Department of Health in its prevention of blindness program.

"More persons trained on basic screening will ensure that the DOH's goal to prevent blindness will be achieved," Dr. Lilette Marie Canilao, an ophthalmologist at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) and the chairperson of the BEHT, said on the sidelines of the event held at the University of Baguio Centennial Hall on Wednesday,

She said village workers are BEHT's link to the community.

"If we empower the BHWs who will detect eye conditions that are worth referring at least, they can be informed in the community to consult a specialist," she added. (PNA)