BICOL MEDICAL CENTER
National Voluntary Blood Services Program
The Blood Bank and Transfusion Service of BMC was formally inaugurated in the last quarter of 1999. Its existing facility was the former autoclave room of the laboratory. The renovation of the facility was undertaken from a grant given by Dr. Criselda Abesamis thru the effort of then Department of Pathology Chairman, Dr. Rene Tupue and Bicol NVBSP Program coordinator Dr. Napoleon Iraola. After that, blood bank equipments from the DOH central office were delivered, as well as supplies and materials being bought by the hospital.
At the start, the voluntary blood donation of BMC was really struggling in terms of number of donors, equipment and supplies, as well as MBD team members. With only three regular NVBSP items and a limited budget, the institution formulated measures to address issues at hand. One of the measures undertaken was the creation of a NVBSP trust fund by Dr. Gerardo Bayugo, former DOH regional director. The trust fund was created through collections of blood services fee.
In 2006, a restructuring of personnel was done by the blood bank. Young blood were recruited into the program. The new staffs were handpicked from the roster of the Department of Laboratories and the nursing service, as well as from private hospitals. Proper strategic planning was started wherein the main target was to increased the number of voluntary donors. Another aim is to fully implement a quality assurance program in the institution.
The blood bank starts from scratch with new people, new ideas, new plans and new strategies. With the approval and support from Dr. Nestor Santiago, Dr. Edgar Esplana, and our new Medical Center Chief, Dr. Ruben Peñafiel, a new NVBSP strategic plan was adopted. The full swing of voluntary donation was initially done by visits and talks with local government executives, specifically the mayors and vice mayors, as well as councilors and barangay officials. This was done through a simple letter sent to the constituents of the locality of the patient who undergone blood transfusion. The letter simply asked the respective local government executives signifying their interest in the Blood Donation Program after a constituent’s life had been saved by the program. Reply letters from the locality followed thus meetings and talks were made.
Sanggunian Resolutions and/or Memorandum of Agreements between the locality and BMC were formalized. Through this local government initiative, budget allocations for the local blood program were provided, as well as cooperation with the locality was established.
Advocacy campaigns were initially commenced before any mobile blood donation activity. The recruitment campaign was handled by barangay health workers after a “Donor Recruitment and Care Seminar” was undertaken.
Unique activities were introduced to the locality to promote awareness. Samples of these are the following: Barangay Blood Olympics as adopted by Calabanga and Paracale, Bula Blood Donors Festival, Sports for life by Naga and San Fernando, Bring Big Brother (BBB) by Bula and the Paduruguan’08 and participation to the World blood donor day by Calabanga and Naga City.
In November 2008, the Bicol Medical Center formally stopped in-house blood replacement system and had brought the program to the Barangay. The institution had started supplying some of the blood stocks needed by hospitals in the region and southern Quezon Province. BMC had also transported several hundreds of units to the Philippine Blood Center and some institutions in Metro Manila.
The zero replacement of the BMC is unique considering that it is a hospital-based institution compared to a non-hospital based set-up seen in other regions or countries. The institution had reversed from a one hundred percent dependence on replaced blood to a zero replacement system and a fully mobile blood donation blood source through proper strategic planning, personnel commitment and management support.
The old system of replacement by patients of blood used by bringing donors to the institution had been totally stopped. Replacement donors, as stated by the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, AMERICAN ASSOCIATIONS OF BLOOD BANKS & the DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH is being discouraged because this have a higher risk of transmitting TRANSFUSION TRANSMITABLE INFECTIONS (TTI) such as hepatitis and AIDS, as compared to voluntary donors. Replacement donors may also be hidden paid donors mascara ding as relatives or friends of the patient.
Our institution’s implementation of purely voluntary blood source is 13 months ahead of the projected national goal of eliminating replacement or commercial blood source. The Department of Health plans to fully implement Republic Act no. 7719 by year 2010. The success story of Bicol Medical center- NVBSP is multi-factorial. It involves proper strategic planning and implementation, fund and material sourcing, staff development and proper supervision, management support, national & regional guidance, encouragement, moreover, the local government involvements and institutional cooperation. Elimination of one of these factors, the campaign for voluntary blood source would not be possible.
In this line with our main objective at present is the concern of sustainability of the blood donation campaign and full involvement of the community and institutions in our network. To ensure that the program would be sustained, it is imperative that the culture of Filipinos regarding blood donation be changed and political will be strengthened.
Support coming from the Local Chief Executives and local officials should not be stopped and local funding and personnel augmentation should be encouraged. In order for the local government to continually support the NVBSP, it should not be considered as a local campaign but a national activity, a national undertaking for all Filipinos. The program must be continually be guided technically base on national and internationally goal with the consideration of the local situation and resources. The national vision of safe blood available for all must the main battle cry of the region and the whole nation as well.
At the start, the voluntary blood donation of BMC was really struggling in terms of number of donors, equipment and supplies, as well as MBD team members. With only three regular NVBSP items and a limited budget, the institution formulated measures to address issues at hand. One of the measures undertaken was the creation of a NVBSP trust fund by Dr. Gerardo Bayugo, former DOH regional director. The trust fund was created through collections of blood services fee.
In 2006, a restructuring of personnel was done by the blood bank. Young blood were recruited into the program. The new staffs were handpicked from the roster of the Department of Laboratories and the nursing service, as well as from private hospitals. Proper strategic planning was started wherein the main target was to increased the number of voluntary donors. Another aim is to fully implement a quality assurance program in the institution.
The blood bank starts from scratch with new people, new ideas, new plans and new strategies. With the approval and support from Dr. Nestor Santiago, Dr. Edgar Esplana, and our new Medical Center Chief, Dr. Ruben Peñafiel, a new NVBSP strategic plan was adopted. The full swing of voluntary donation was initially done by visits and talks with local government executives, specifically the mayors and vice mayors, as well as councilors and barangay officials. This was done through a simple letter sent to the constituents of the locality of the patient who undergone blood transfusion. The letter simply asked the respective local government executives signifying their interest in the Blood Donation Program after a constituent’s life had been saved by the program. Reply letters from the locality followed thus meetings and talks were made.
Sanggunian Resolutions and/or Memorandum of Agreements between the locality and BMC were formalized. Through this local government initiative, budget allocations for the local blood program were provided, as well as cooperation with the locality was established.
Advocacy campaigns were initially commenced before any mobile blood donation activity. The recruitment campaign was handled by barangay health workers after a “Donor Recruitment and Care Seminar” was undertaken.
Unique activities were introduced to the locality to promote awareness. Samples of these are the following: Barangay Blood Olympics as adopted by Calabanga and Paracale, Bula Blood Donors Festival, Sports for life by Naga and San Fernando, Bring Big Brother (BBB) by Bula and the Paduruguan’08 and participation to the World blood donor day by Calabanga and Naga City.
In November 2008, the Bicol Medical Center formally stopped in-house blood replacement system and had brought the program to the Barangay. The institution had started supplying some of the blood stocks needed by hospitals in the region and southern Quezon Province. BMC had also transported several hundreds of units to the Philippine Blood Center and some institutions in Metro Manila.
The zero replacement of the BMC is unique considering that it is a hospital-based institution compared to a non-hospital based set-up seen in other regions or countries. The institution had reversed from a one hundred percent dependence on replaced blood to a zero replacement system and a fully mobile blood donation blood source through proper strategic planning, personnel commitment and management support.
The old system of replacement by patients of blood used by bringing donors to the institution had been totally stopped. Replacement donors, as stated by the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, AMERICAN ASSOCIATIONS OF BLOOD BANKS & the DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH is being discouraged because this have a higher risk of transmitting TRANSFUSION TRANSMITABLE INFECTIONS (TTI) such as hepatitis and AIDS, as compared to voluntary donors. Replacement donors may also be hidden paid donors mascara ding as relatives or friends of the patient.
Our institution’s implementation of purely voluntary blood source is 13 months ahead of the projected national goal of eliminating replacement or commercial blood source. The Department of Health plans to fully implement Republic Act no. 7719 by year 2010. The success story of Bicol Medical center- NVBSP is multi-factorial. It involves proper strategic planning and implementation, fund and material sourcing, staff development and proper supervision, management support, national & regional guidance, encouragement, moreover, the local government involvements and institutional cooperation. Elimination of one of these factors, the campaign for voluntary blood source would not be possible.
In this line with our main objective at present is the concern of sustainability of the blood donation campaign and full involvement of the community and institutions in our network. To ensure that the program would be sustained, it is imperative that the culture of Filipinos regarding blood donation be changed and political will be strengthened.
Support coming from the Local Chief Executives and local officials should not be stopped and local funding and personnel augmentation should be encouraged. In order for the local government to continually support the NVBSP, it should not be considered as a local campaign but a national activity, a national undertaking for all Filipinos. The program must be continually be guided technically base on national and internationally goal with the consideration of the local situation and resources. The national vision of safe blood available for all must the main battle cry of the region and the whole nation as well.
