CEBU CITY – The Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) welcomed the holding of the “Dugo Mo, Kinabuhi Ko” mobile blood donation which was launched Saturday in Barangay Pit-os here.
Spearheaded by Association of Barangay Councils (ABC)-Cebu City President Franklyn Ong, the bloodletting activity is looking to attract at least 1,000 donors to augment the insufficient blood supply of VSMMC.
“This will run until June and we will cover all the 80 barangays in the city,” Ong said.
Ong said the ABC-Cebu City decided to hold a series of bloodletting activities in response to the Department of Health-Central Visayas’ (DOH 7) appeal for the barangays to assist in its blood donation drives.
He said the ABC-Cebu City didn’t hesitate to heed DOH 7’s request as the organization realizes the importance of having enough blood supply.
“There is really a need for the council to support this. In times that the barangays, not just from Cebu City but from whole Cebu are faced with health emergencies, VSMMC has always been there to help,” said Ong.
“The VSMMC has helped a lot and it’s time for us to repay them that’s why we are calling on to the public to participate in our bloodletting campaign,” Ong added.
Dr. Halide Tangarorang, chief of the VSMMC blood services unit, described ABC-Cebu City’s initiative as “very timely” as it will help address VSMMC’s perennial problem of not having sufficient supply of blood.
“Not having enough supply of blood has been a problem for the longest time. The people are still not well-educated on the importance of donating blood. It has not yet ingrained in them that they should visit blood facilities and donate quarterly,” Tangarorang added.
“Based on our record, at least 100 patients a day are not being given the unit that they need. So we see this is as very timely and we are very happy because the output of this campaign will be a huge help to our patients,” added Tangarorang.
Tangarorang said the current health crisis has also affected VSMMC’s blood supply after some private companies which partnered with DOH 7 ceased holding bloodletting activities. “They also have to protect their workers so they declined holding bloodletting drives for now.”
Tangarorang said screening for blood donors has become stricter due to the COVID-19 pandemic but VSMMC is hoping that ABC-Cebu City’s bloodletting drive will be sustained.
“People who need blood will keep coming. Everyday there will be mothers giving birth, we will have chemotherapy patients, dialysis patients. So we are hoping that this will continue on and on,” Tangarorang said.