On the occasion of "International Blood Donor Day" (June 14) I want to share certain contributions and reflections on the importance of promoting blood donation. When I made my first donation on the occasion of my father's operation, twelve years ago, I learned to perceive the complex drama of hundreds of patients in urgent need of blood.
In my opinion, the low willingness to donate blood is directly related to our reduced sense of belonging. It is no coincidence that donation rates in Peru are below international standards. We live in a social environment marked by disinterest in the fate of the other. We avoid incorporating others in our personal project and we avoid associating what surrounds us as our own. Apathy is part of the way we live.
In this sense, I reiterate what was stated in my article "The indifference of the Peruvian": "Each one lives their troubles and challenges in the face of daily survival. We do not look for organized alternatives to face common conflicts, we are incapable of looking at our neighbor with a sense of solidarity, we have a cracked self-esteem that prevents us from defending our rights and, in addition, we practice that sport consisting of 'diagnosing' - every time we are with a few drinks in the hand- the problems of the homeland and we avoid becoming actors of the change we demand ”.
Juan Carlos Peñaranda, head of the Blood Bank of the National Institute of Child Health (INSN), in recent statements stated: “In Peru, the majority of blood donors are not volunteers, but replacement ones. They only do it when a family member or friend needs it ”. Likewise, the deputy director of the INSN, Carlos Álvarez Murillo has specified: “Last year we only extracted three thousand units. This year we will need about six thousand units to meet the growing demand ”.
For her part, Nancy Loayza, former head of the National Program for Hemotherapy and Blood Banks (Pronahebas), has indicated: “The man can donate every three months; and the woman, four. In a year you can do it four times. And if a life is saved for each donation, at least 12 to 16 a year can be saved ”.
Según la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) una nación para lograr la autosuficiencia en reserva de donación de sangre debe alcanzar el dos por ciento del total de su población. Estamos alejados de llegar a la mitad de lo establecido por esta entidad: únicamente cinco de cada cien conciudadanos hace una donación para reponer la requerida por un familiar o amigo. La donación voluntaria altruista casi es inexistente en contraste con otros países como Cuba y Nicaragua, en donde todas las donaciones son abiertas. En Chile, de cada diez habitantes que donan, dos son espontáneos. En Colombia, ocho de diez.
Through persuasion campaigns it is necessary to explain the significant contribution of this noble action. But, in order to achieve a greater sense of adherence, a training that arises at home, at school and in all areas of our society is required. Let us try to avoid looking only at ourselves and begin to observe the suffering of our neighbor and, consequently, wake up from the paralysis that stuns us as a community. Developing our sensitivity will make us better human beings.
My dear friend Carlos Penalillo Pimentel - a member of the Transfusion Medicine Service of the Edgardo Rebagliati- hospital - became a voluntary donor. “In the last 15 to 20 years, I have donated 55 times. Fifty were philanthropically. Every day we see realities that occur in children with leukemia or patients from the provinces, "he said. His meritorious testimony influenced my desire to write these lines.
It is convenient to underline the enormous contribution that each of us makes by donating blood.
A unit has the following blood derivatives:
- plasma (for people with clotting problems or cirrhosis), red blood cells (for patients with anemia, leukemia and cancer), cryoprecipitate (plasma concentrate in favor of hemophilic patients) and platelets (for those with leukemia, which affects the bone marrow in where blood is produced in the body).
To be a donor, you must be between 18 and 50 years old (with medical authorization it may be up to 65 years old), weigh a minimum of 55 kilos, be in good health and complete a medical questionnaire. Women can do it every four months and men every three. There is no risk of gaining or losing weight, nor of acquiring diseases as, by mistake and insistence, is still believed. Donating blood is also useful to know our state of health since seven tests are carried out to rule out diseases such as AIDS, syphilis and hepatitis. The whole process takes about 40 minutes.
This generous purpose helps to comfort our lives, reaffirm solidarity, strengthen empathic capacity, nurture self-esteem, restore hope and give us the intense satisfaction of carrying out a work, no matter how symbolic it is considered, aimed at forging a community of men and women. women involved with the fellow. The great Cuban politician, thinker and poet José Martí said well: “Intelligence gives goodness, justice and beauty; like a wing, lift up the spirit; like a crown, it makes the one who holds it a monarch ”.
