DOH: Commercial blood puts patients at high risk of acquiring HIV, malaria

Patients needing blood who resort to commercial blood donors are at high risk of getting infected with blood-borne diseases like malaria and Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

Department of Health-7 national voluntary blood services program coordinator Dr. Judita Tawatao said there is a higher incidence of acquiring transmittable diseases among patients who get blood from commercial donors.

The commercial blood may have been screened in the hospital, but ailments like malaria and HIV have an incubation period before these certain illnesses can be positively detected. Window testing period of the HIV is six months.

Republic Act 7719 or the National Blood Service Act of 1994 has ruled that commercial blood donation is illegal.

The DOH stands resolute in closing all commercial blood banks nationwide as a recent Supreme Court ruling decided against the presence of these facilities. Shutting down commercial blood banks will likewise put a stop to the money making act of commercial blood donors, it was learned.

Just last February, the DOH-7 licensing team tasked to monitor the presence of commercial blood donors within hospital premises shooed away a known commercial blood donor in one of the private hospitals in Cebu City.

DOH-7 local government assistance cluster head Dr. Cora Lou Kintanar, however, said there is no stipulation under RA 7719 penalizing commercial blood donors.

The law only sanctions the hospital for allowing the presence of commercial blood donors, Kintanar added. She further said that in the case of the February incident, the commercial blood donor was seen outside the gates of the hospital so the medical facility cannot be held liable.

In order to give a big boost to the country's voluntary blood donation programs, the DOH aims to limit the areas where blood testing are done.

The government-run Regional Blood Center, the NGO-manned Regional Blood Coordinating Council and the Philippine National Red Cross based in Cebu city will be considered as sub-national blood centers to serve the people in the Visayas and Mindanao. Implementation of this plan is expected in the near future, according to Kintanar.

Presently, hospitals per policy still require patients to pay as much as P5,000 for blood testing cost even if blood bags have been acquired from the RBC, RBCC and the PNRC. Blood bags from the three establishments have already been screened for five diseases namely hepatitis A & B, malaria, HIV, and syphilis as required by law.

The blood centers are campaigning for voluntary blood donation as blood donors and immediate family members can avail of the blood bags for free in cases of emergency as long as the blood volume taken is also replaced, RBCC pathologist Dr. Alma Malilong said. Prices of blood bags in the three blood centers vary from P1,200 to P1,500 which is the basic cost of the blood testing.

Tawatao said government wants to see an increase in the number of repeat blood donors, higher number of new voluntary blood donors and a decrease in the number of replacement blood donors. As July is declared National Blood Donation Month, the DOH-7 will recognize diligent blood donors who have already donated gallons of blood in the past years and local government units that have been very active in bloodletting activities, this was said.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III bared that only 500,000 Filipinos voluntarily donate blood and that the government hopes to hike this number to 800,000 or equivalent to one percent of the country's 85 million population. - Jasmin R. Uy