Friday, July 12, 2013

200 Army personnel participate in bloodletting for dengue patients

From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 12): 200 Army personnel participate in bloodletting for dengue patients

Around 200 personnel of the Philippine Army (PA) on Friday participated in the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Rizal Chapter's bloodletting event in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, Army spokesperson, said the bloodletting activity is part of their celebration of World Blood Donors Month.

Major Efren V. Abayari, PA headquarters and headquarters Support Group civil military officer said, the Army decided to partner with the PRC to ensure the continuous supply in the blood bank particularly at this time when high dengue cases are recorded nationwide.

A total of 200 military personnel from various Army units participated in the event.

Red Cross medical technologist Melanie Mercurio said that vouchers equivalent to 10 percent of total blood donations will be given to the PA as an incentive.

Army personnel can use these vouchers to avail free blood bags in cases of emergency within a six-month period.

She added that one person can make a difference by donating up to 450-cc of blood depending on standard physical and medical qualifications.

A bag of blood can be divided to at least three components in separate satellite bags: solid component or the packed red blood cells; platelets that expire after five days; and fresh frozen plasma which can last up to a year.

More sophisticated laboratories can extract up to five components from one blood bag. PRC facilities, however, can only extract three. Nonetheless, one person’s donation is enough to save three lives or more.

Mercurio added that donating blood is beneficial to health because it helps replenish the body’s blood supply and can even help prevent acne.

 http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=543562

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