The blood deficit in the Dominican Republic reaches 320 thousand units per year.
The donation rate that is linked to this deficit is very low: on a voluntary basis it reaches less than 1% and in replacement blood donations, below 20%.
These figures were shared by the director of the National Hemocenter, Dr. Pedro Sing Ureña, who urged the population to donate blood voluntarily because “blood is a gift of creation, which cannot be produced in a laboratory”, and can be save up to three lives with a single pint by separating the organic compound into plasma, platelets and red blood cells.
Inaugurated on November 25, with President Luis Abinader as the first donor, the Hemocentro has collected 171 bags of blood to date through different sessions.
The Hemocentro offers two formats for the distribution of blood: from company to company through the 21 nodes in the country and through the rapid response unit for emergencies.
Through the latter, 63 Dominicans, including 8 children who had very low hemoglobin and threatened their lives, received blood.
They were held in hospitals such as Moscoso Puello, La Altagracia Maternity, Hugo Mendoza Hospital, Robert Reid Cabral Hospital, Vinicio Calventi Hospital, National Institute of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Nutrition (INDEN), Elohim Clinical Center, Cedimat, among others.
Likewise, the official announced that in line with the Ministry of Education the strategy is being put together to create “the first generation of blood donors in the country.”
“We have already made the first contact with the minister (Roberto) Fulcar to draw up an educational strategy for children from 4 years of age, give them the guidelines so that children know the importance of blood and promote donation at home, motivating the parents and when they grow up they will be spontaneous, altruistic and repetitive donors ”, stated Sing Ureña.
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