Public urged to donate blood for dengue victims

Amid the soaring cases of dengue in the region, the Regional Blood Center has urged people to donate blood to sustain the blood demand of Central Visayas.

Regional Blood Center chief Lydia Bigornia said that the center has at least 30 walk-in donors per day and is still in need for more as more people need of blood these days because of the continued increase of dengue cases in the region.

As of August 9, Cebu City has a total of 704 cases and 19 deaths, a far cry from last year's 298 cases recorded by the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit.

Health Undersecretary Mila Fernandez said that recent records from the National Epidemiology Center show at least 12,365 dengue cases and 77 deaths in the Philippines from January to July this year, a 41-percent increase from the 3,840 cases that was also recorded in the same period last year.

Fernandez said that Central Visayas ranked third in the number of cases nationwide following Region 10 and Region 9 that had the highest number of cases recently.

Fernandez said that Central Visayas already has a total of 26 deaths from the 1,298 cases that were recorded from January to July 25, third in ranking from Region 10 that had the highest number with almost 1,400 cases followed by Region 9 with 1,340 cases.

Over the same period last year, the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of the Department of Health had recorded 537 cases.

Recently DOH has raised the alarm over Cebu City declaring it a hotspot for the mosquito-borne disease owing to a 66-percent increase in cases recorded in the first seven months this year as compared to the same period last year.

Other than Cebu City, DOH-7 regional director Susana Madarieta mentioned four other cities that need the same amount of attention. These are Mandaue, Talisay, Lapu-Lapu and Toledo City, as cases of dengue had also increased in the said areas.

This year's figure is even higher than that of 2001 with 1,200, which was recorded as the highest in recent years.- Jasmin R. Uy