Red Cross inaugurates biggest blood center in PH

This is a press release from the Philippine Red Cross:

MANILA, Philippines – Working towards providing safe and quality blood for everyone, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has added a new state-of-the-art facility center to its already impressive number of blood centers.

PRC Chairman Richard J. Gordon said the PRC National Blood Center at the new PRC Tower, located along Boni Avenue corner EDSA in Mandaluyong, brings to 82 the number of PRC’s blood centers all over the country.

“Last year, the Red Cross was able to meet only 50 percent of our countrymen’s need for blood,” Gordon said. “As the foremost humanitarian organization, we aim to provide more because we are committed to alleviate human suffering. This is why we are putting up more blood centers.”

Gordon said the Red Cross also wants to assure the public that the blood it provides is safe which is why the PRC is already working on having the newly-opened PRC National Blood Center in Mandaluyong and the rest of PRC’s blood centers, ISO certified like the National Blood Center in the old national headquarters in Port Area, Manila, which is an ISO 9001:2008 certified facility.

“We all know how important it is to make blood always available to those who need it. It can spell the difference between life and death,” Gordon stressed. “It is thus our concern to make sure that we encourage more people to donate blood. More than this, ensuring that the blood supply is safe, is of even greater importance in order to save lives.” 

Located very near the Metro Rail Transit’s Boni Station, the Blood Center is easily accessible to both patients and donors and is now fully operational 24/7 for blood issuance and blood distribution.  

The PRC National Blood Center sits on two floors of the building, covering an area of 1,000 square meters, with a blood storage capacity of 4,000 units at a time. It has a walk-in blood bank refrigerator and five floor-types blood bank refrigerators. It also has state-of-the-art testing machines for HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, and malaria, as well as five apheresis machines.

Gordon further disclosed that the PRC also has programs for indigents who require blood such as the Blood Samaritan Program and the Blood Samaritan Funds, a tie-up with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

To avail of free blood, indigent patients should present a blood request, certificate of indigency from hospital or social worker, or a barangay certificate.

The PRC also encourages partnership with different hospitals to boost its capacity for disaster response and management. Under the partnership, the PRC is committed to assist the hospitals in meeting their daily blood needs, among others, while the hospitals are committed to augment PRC’s health team by providing doctors and nurses in case of emergencies.

“We are continuously expanding, modernizing, and redefining the Red Cross to ensure that we will be able to reach a greater number of our suffering countrymen,” Gordon explaiend.

“With our mission of alleviating human suffering in mind, we work under the equation: Volunteers plus logistics plus information Ttchnology equals a Red Cross that is always first, always ready, always there,” he added. – Rappler.com