NegOr hospital gives free blood to poor patients

An aerial view of the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital. (Photo courtesy of the Office of the Governor, Negros Oriental via PNA)

DUMAGUETE CITY – The Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital (NOPH) here has enough blood to give for free to its patients, particularly the indigents who could not afford to procure their blood requirements.

Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr.

Liland Estacion said Thursday the provincial hospital has had enough blood supply for the past two to three weeks.

It has even provided blood to a patient admitted at a private hospital in this provincial capital, she said.

Estacion said having enough supply of blood is a must for Governor Roel Degamo, who promised to sustain the blood procurement program under the Provincial Health Office and funded by the provincial government.

She thanked the local government units and some private donors for cooperating with the provincial government in giving blood to the NOPH.

Estacion noted that just recently, they collected 174 packs of blood from Bindoy, 134 packs from Zamboanguita, and seven packs from Teletech, while bloodletting activities have been scheduled for Ayungon, Dumaguete, and Bayawan City.

The Capitol has allocated a budget of PHP4.

5 million for the blood program, in accordance with an ordinance authored by the late former Board Member, lawyer Arturo Umbac, she said.

She said the governor earlier announced that the provincial government would soon establish a blood center in the province that would hopefully be operational by 2020.

Currently, the NOPH has its own blood station in charge of the collection of blood, she noted.

“We are lucky that the Department of Health (DOH) in Region 7 will be doing the blood screening for free, and once these are okay for disposal, we will give these for free to indigent patients at NOPH,” Estacion said.

The soon-to-be-established blood center will be non-hospital based, but will still be an arm of the Provincial Health Office, she added.

Meanwhile, the provincial government through the PHO, along with the DOH, will discuss with officials from private hospitals the mechanics and other procedures of providing free blood to indigent patients admitted in non-government facilities, Estacion said.