Red Cross asks NBI to crack down on illegal blood banks

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) on Monday called on the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to crack down on illegal blood banks that exist mainly for profit. In a press statement posted on the group's website, PNRC chairman Sen. Richard Gordon cited a report on paid blood donation involving fly-by-night commercial blood bank syndicates and asked the Department of Health to immediately close down commercial blood banks pursuant to a Supreme Court ruling. Gordon also cautioned the public from buying blood from unauthorized or illegal blood banks, which he said promote paid blood donations and are unsafe for transfusion and may lead to the spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and other transfusion transmitted-diseases. In contrast, he said the PNRC supplies 37% of the total annual national blood collection. He also said they have strengthened the capacity for community donor recruitment through Red Cross 143 where 25 volunteers will be standby blood donors in each of the 42,000 villages in the country. There are 72 PNRC blood service facilities (BSFs) in strategic locations of the country to address the gap in blood supply specifically during the lean months of December and January, the statement noted. "The PNRC ensures that the blood we collect are safe to transfuse to patients. We perform blood tests for malaria, syphilis, hepatitis B and C, HIV," Gordon said, adding that the PNRC Blood Service depends entirely on voluntary donations from the public. Blood donation sessions are set up throughout the country and take place in many different venues. To be a donor, one must be fit and healthy and be between 17 and 60 years old, Gordon said. Regular healthy donors can donate blood until age 65. Donors can give blood up to four times a year or once every 8-12 weeks. On the other hand, the PNRC conducts voluntary blood donor education and recruitment to communities. In 2007, the PNRC organized 1,293 blood donor sessions nationwide and was attended by 61,917 persons. Also, PNRC blood service facilities and blood collecting units had a total collection of 187,352 bags. This accounts for about 24% increase from the previous year's blood collection of 150,641 units. PNRC Governor Rosa Rosal, meanwhile, appealed to the public to consider giving blood during this season as a gift to those who may need blood and make the first day of the new year as their first blood donation. Gordon added the PNRC has a program called Blood Samaritan that offers an organized system of tapping good Samaritans to help subsidize the cost of blood processing, in whole or in part. "It is a fund drive of the PNRC that not only ensures the availability of safe and quality blood to everyone but most especially to indigent patients whenever necessary," he said. For her part, Rosal said the PNRC stands by the belief of providing quality health care by giving safe and quality blood to patients that need transfusion regardless of status in life. "Blood itself is free but there is minimal expense in collecting and processing one unit of safe and quality whole blood, which is more or less P1,500 at the PNRC blood centers. Records show that in most cases, patients would need more than one unit of blood," she said. Red Cross 143 was organized following the landslide that hit Ginsaugon, St. Bernard, Southern Leyte in 2006. Red Cross 143 envisions a network of volunteers that would provide essential information and be mobilized in times of emergencies and disasters, including blood donors. This program upholds and encourages the spirit of volunteerism in the community thereby delivering timely, effective and compassionate humanitarian assistance. - GMANews.TV