Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Chairman Richard Gordon assured Filipinos that the organization will continue to hold regular mass blood donation programs to be able to cater to the needs of the community, especially the poor.
Gordon made the statement after the Department of Health (DOH) announced the country met its goal to obtain 1% or one million blood units from the total population.
Over one million, or 1,120,408 blood units (450 milliliters each), were gathered as of December 2017, the DOH said.
“We live up to our mission of making sure that people of this country get safe, adequate, accessible, and quality blood supply. This is why our National Blood Center is ISO-certified,” Gordon said.
“It is my hope that we can strengthen the programs even more. We should never rest on our laurels. The achievement will not stop Red Cross from hitting higher targets.”
Gordon also called on blood service facilities to work together to streamline the process of getting blood and to provide people with more options.
He also urged DOH to penalize hospitals that practice retesting of blood units that have already been tested by PRC.
“Somebody out there is desperately looking for blood. We owe it to her or to him to make sure that he or she gets access to blood as soon as possible and without any hassle because we are on track to save lives,” he said.
(from Philippine Red Cross)