BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance establishing a blood donation program in the city and appropriating funds for the said purpose.
The ordinance authored by Acting City Mayor Edison R. Bilog stated that among the purposes of the city’s blood donation program include to promote and encourage voluntary blood donations in the city and instill public consciousness of the principle of blood donation which is a humanitarian act; to provide for adequate, safe, and equitable distribution of blood supply and blood products; to inform the public of the benefits of and the need for voluntary blood donation and to mobilize all the sectors of the community to participate in programs and activities on voluntary collection of blood.
The ordinance stipulated that a Baguio City Blood Council (BCBC) will be created and composed of the City Mayor as chairperson, City Health Officer as the action officer and the chairperson of the City Council Committee on Health and Sanitation, Ecology and Environmental Protection, the Regional Director of the Cordillera office of the Department of Health, chapter administrator of the Philippine Red Cross – Baguio City chapter, President of the Liga ng mga Barangay, Public Information Officers of the City Mayor’s Office, Sangguniang Panlungsod, DOH-CAR and PRC-BCC, and other representatives as may be determined and identified by the blood council once it convenes.
The ordinance stated that the staff of the City Health Services Office and PRC-BCC will serve as the secretariat of the BCBC.
Under the proposal, the BCBC shall plan the implementation of the blood donation program of the city, for the necessary committees to undertake the appropriate strategies to implement the program, formulate annual operational plan for each strategy identified, organize various groups for the implementation of the planned strategies and activities, formulate policies and procedures for the provision and sharing of human resources, implement strategies and activities of the blood donation program, monitor and evaluate the activities of the blood donation program, report activities and accomplishments and financial transactions on a periodic and quarterly basis, promote voluntary blood donation and organize and conduct mobile blood donation activities in all barangays, instill consciousness and awareness of the program, acquire commitments from the barangays, hospitals as well as dialysis centers, assist the barangays in the establishment of master lists and registry or database of possible blood donors to obtain a pool of blood donors to be contacted in cases of emergencies, conduct intensive blood donor recruitment campaign beginning with information and education campaign, provide non-monetary recognition for blood donors and partners through certificates and other incentives as may be allowed or identified, provide programs such as the walking blood donor program of the DOH-CAR and the City Health Services office and incorporate salient activities of such to the blood donation program of the city, propose for the funding for the purchase of necessary materials needed to support the blood donation program and identify other functions necessary for the implementation of the ordinance.
Bilog proposed that the amount of P100,000 shall be appropriated to cover the various activities related to the programs and that the amount may be increased upon the recommendation of the council.
By Dexter A. See
