Current Practices of Blood Service Facilities in the Philippines

Abstract

With the enactment of Republic Act 7719 (or National Blood Services Act) in 1994, all commercial blood banks have been phased out as they were implicated for providing unsafe and tainted blood supply in the Philippines. Instead, the same law has encouraged the voluntary non-remunerated donation of blood to ensure adequate, safe, affordable, and equitable supply of blood and blood products for Filipinos. Using a stratified random sampling proportionate to the amount of blood units produced in a year, a cross-sectional investigation was carried out to determine the current practices of blood service facilities (BSFs) in the Philippines. Specifically, the study aimed to (1) review Philippine policies and guidelines on blood services and compare them with international standards (2) identify and establish the type of BSF and their unit production as of 2011, and (3) determine the practices of BSFs on blood donation, testing, distribution, and release. There were a total of 308 BSFs categorized according to service types with a total blood production of 929,263 units. More important BSF practices included filling out of donor form, hemoglobin and hematocrit determination, pre-donation screening, physical examination, blood collection, post- donation care, transfusion-transmitted infection screening, ABO-Rh typing, and asking for screening fee and blood request forms. In terms of blood services, the Philippines has excellent compliance with World Health Organization guidelines and can be considered at par with international standards. However, there is a need to strengthen the more important practices and to address the less important practices for ensuring the provision of adequate, safe, and equitable blood for Filipinos.

Keywords: blood,practices,bloodservicefacilities,blooddonation,Philippines