by Noel Baguio
The Department of Health (DOH) has acknowledged the achievement of Davao del Norte for coming up with the country’s largest amount of blood donation in a day.
National Center for Health Facility director Criselda Abesamis, who is also the concurrent OIC director of the Philippine Blood Center, congratulated the province for the feat.
“Wow, congratulations! That’s a real record-breaker,” Dir. Abesamis said in a text message to health regional director Dr. Teogenes Baluma.
Abesamis was reacting to Baluma’s message informing her that Davao del Norte was able to mobilize 500 voluntary blood donors during a mass bloodletting activity on June 28, 2010.
Davao del Norte beat the record set by Camarines Sur two years ago of 300 blood donors in one day.
The province launched the Project DOLFO (Donors of Life for Others) bloodletting activity as one of the highlights of the recent 43rd Araw ng Davao del Norte celebration.
Provincial blood coordinator Teresita Abada said each blood donor provided 450 ml, or a total of 225,000 ml of blood.
Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario attributed the success of the event to the all-out support and cooperation of all local government units and other stakeholders.
“There is nothing as uplifting as hundreds of our people joined together to give back to our community,” the governor said after making his rounds of bloodletting tents at the Bulwagan.
Health officer Dr. Agapito Hornido said each of the three cities and eight municipalities of the province sent 50 donors. Augmenting the fleet of blood donors were the capitol employees, men in uniform and other sectors.
“This event showed that “Dabaonons can really make a big difference. Giving blood . . . is actually giving ourselves to others,” Hornido commented.
Project DOLFO is a component of Davao del Norte’s winning provincial voluntary blood sufficiency program, which has been recognized as one of the best practices in the inter local health zones of the DOH.
In 1997, the province received the Galing Pook Award for the successful implementation of its voluntary blood program, which started in 1992.
Launched two years yet before the enactment of RA 7719, otherwise known as Blood Services Act of 1994, Davao del Norte’s blood program aims to provide an adequate, safe, affordable supply of blood and blood products in the province, among other objectives.
It operates on a blood replacement scheme, which allows an individual to borrow blood with a pledge to replace it later by through a suitable donor.
The most important achievement of the program was the creation of an adequate, province-wide blood supply network among all its LGUs.
Last year, the province conducted a total of 156 bloodletting activities with 6,186 blood donors evaluated. Eighty-nine percent of these donors, or 5,523, gave blood.
This volume of blood served some 916 patients with 250-500 ml bags of blood, while 2,360 other patients received 750 ml bags of blood.
All in all, in 2009 the province has released a total of 1,954 units of fresh, whole blood, 2,885 units packed RBC, 2,223 units platelet concentrate, and 332 fresh frozen blood plasma.
Davao del Norte is the only province in Mindanao which owns and operates its own blood bank.
The provincial blood bank assumes responsibility in processing and in keeping a safe sterile storage for collected blood.
