ILOILO CITY—The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) is urging towns in Iloilo to improve their respective blood donation drives to ensure that there would be enough blood supply in the province.
This was after the towns of Balasan, Barotac Nuevo, Carles, Guimbal, Leganes, Leon, Maasin, Miag-ao, Pavia, San Dionisio, San Joaquin, San Miguel, San Rafael, and Sara were not able to turn over any blood supply to PRC-Iloilo last year.
PRC-Iloilo Chapter Administrator Gilbert Paul Valderrama clarified it did not mean the 14 local government units (LGUs) were not able to collect blood donation.
Valderrama told The Manila Bulletin the 14 LGUs may have given blood supply to Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC), the hospital run and managed by the Department of Health (DOH) in Iloilo City.
With a population of more than two million, Valderrama noted that at least one percent of the province’s population or 20,499 persons must be able to donate blood to have enough supply at PRC-Iloilo’s blood bank.
For the year 2020, only three towns, out of the 42 towns and component city of Passi, were able to donate at least one percent of blood supply to PRC-Iloilo. These are the towns of Concepcion, Igbaras and Mina.
Valderrama and PRC-Iloilo Blood Center Manager Katherine Lego met with Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. to discuss plans on how to encourage LGUs to meet the one-percent annual target of blood donation.