QC eyes blood donation drive in malls for dengue patients

Quezon City health officials are considering the holding of blood donation drive in shopping malls to help dengue patients. A report by radio dzBB's Allan Gatus quoted City Health Office head Dr. Antonieta Enumerable as saying that people may be more inclined to donate blood in shopping malls than in the City Hall. The report said the health office's dengue coordinators are working out plans to hold the blood donation drives weekly in malls in Quezon City. The dzBB report said in the Quirino Memorial Medical Center alone in Quezon City, at least seven children have died due to dengue since August 1 this year. Based on Department of Health (DOH) records as of August 6 this year, 22 barangays have been identified as "dengue clusters" or "dengue hotspots" in Metro Manila and most of them are in Quezon City. An area is considered a hotspot when there is a clustering of cases with increasing number within two consecutive weeks. Clustering implies that there are three or more cases in a barangay in the past four consecutive weeks. Also as of August 6, Quezon City was reported to have 3,034 dengue cases, more than 10 times higher than the number of cases in neighboring Marikina City, which only reported 209 dengue cases in their city. Throughout Metro Manila, the number of dengue cases doubled from January to the first week of August this year to 10,487 cases even though the number of cases nationwide during the same period has significantly declined. Based on Department of Health (DOH) figures, there were 5,416 dengue cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) from January to first week of August last year. On the other hand, DOH records show that there were 45,333 dengue cases nationwide during the same period this year, significantly lower than the 68,168 during the same period last year. As of DOH's last update, the number of dengue cases in Metro Manila makes up 23 percent of the nationwide figure. Health officials consider dengue a year-round threat, and have appealed to residents to keep their surroundings clean and dry to prevent dengue-carrying mosquitoes from breeding. - VVP, GMA News