The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) is urging more local government units (LGUs) in Antique to allocate funds to process blood requests of their indigent constituents.

“Although the blood is for free, PRC is charging PHP1,800 per bag for processing,” said Ma. Patricia Isabel Florida, PRC Antique chapter chief, in an interview Wednesday.

She added the capability of their chapter is limited to blood extraction during blood donation activities.

The processing, including extraction of fresh frozen plasma or platelet concentration, is at the PRC blood bank in Iloilo City.

This year, the Antique provincial government allocated PHP2.5 million for the purpose.

“There are also several municipalities such as San Jose de Buenavista, Sibalom, Hamtic, and Tibiao that have already allocated funding, but not all of the 18 municipalities in Antique have already done so,” Florida said.

Florida said they have entered into a memorandum of agreement with them, and they are billed monthly for the blood processing of their constituents.

She advised for earlier requests since some blood types, like Type O, a universal type, are in demand.

She added they conduct, almost daily blood donation activities arranged by the LGUs or other sectors.

For January 2024, PRC Antique supplied 452 units of blood to patients with requests, mainly due to vehicular accidents, dialysis, and surgery. (PNA)