by Jan Christian Pagarigan, OPI
THIS YEAR, the Mindanao State University- Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) has been awarded as one of the Outstanding Blood Services Partner of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC)-Iligan City Chapter for Voluntary Blood Donation.
Among the many academic institutions which are blood services partners of PRC-Iligan, the Institute has the highest number of voluntary mobile blood donations.
The voluntary mobile blood donation activity, tagged as the “MSU-IIT Blood Donations”, is organized by the Red Cross Youth MSU-IIT Council (RCY-MSU-IIT) in partnership with the Office of Medical, Dental, and Health Services (OMDHS) of the Institute.
According to Dr. Muhammad M. Puting, Chief Administrative Officer of OMDHS, the MSU-IIT Blood Donations started since 2012. He said that the activity is a continuing program of the RCY-MSU-IIT and the OMDHS, which aims to promote healthy blood donation among its constituents and to help the Institute in its community extension programs.
Held every Friday of the week at the Institute lawn, the activity also aims to promote healthy lifestyles, improve overall health by means of blood extraction, and to inculcate voluntary participation, as well as to save lives.
“Voluntary blood donation is important because through this activity we can help our community by identifying important blood types that are usually needed during an emergency; blood extraction is also important and beneficial to the overall health and well being of a person because it rejuvenates and refuels our bodies,” says Puting.
In the previous years, the Institute also has been recognized by the Department of Health-Region X for its contribution to voluntary blood donation.