The Ministry of Health in Jujuy, through the Regional Hemotherapy Center (CRH), reported that public health services in the province performed 10,838 blood transfusions from January to early November this year. These procedures were carried out across 15 hospital services, including Hospital Pablo Soria, Materno Infantil, Guillermo Paterson, Oscar Orías, San Roque, Jorge Uro, Arturo Zabala, Wenceslao Gallardo, Nuestra Señora del Rosario, General Belgrano, Salvador Mazza, Miguel Miskoff, Nuestra Señora del Carmen, Nuestra Señora de Belén and Carlos Snopek.
Efforts to promote voluntary blood donation are ongoing as part of the Strategic Health Plan II led by Minister Gustavo Bouhid and approved by Governor Carlos Sadir. The CRH organized 241 “Mi sangre, tu sangre” operations between January and November. Additionally, there were 104 public blood drives and 75 collaborations with hospital transfusion services. During this period, 7,534 effective blood donations were collected and 363 people registered as hematopoietic stem cell donors.
“In the context of November 9th—National Voluntary Blood Donor Day—the entire month will be dedicated to strengthening the importance of voluntary donation. Activities will include providing information to the public, recruiting new donors for both blood and bone marrow or platelets. Educational workshops and projects at various educational levels will continue along with promotion efforts and training activities at the CRH’s central building. Professional practice sessions for students pursuing a Higher Technician degree in Hemotherapy are also ongoing,” according to a statement from health officials.
Authorities emphasized that voluntary donation is essential because blood cannot be manufactured and is needed daily for different health situations—many of them urgent or critical.
Those wishing to donate can visit the Regional Hemotherapy Center at Av. Snopek esq. Tte. Bolzán in Alto Comedero from Monday to Friday between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., or on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., with several city bus lines stopping nearby.
Eligibility requirements for donors include being healthy; presenting an ID with photo; weighing more than 50 kg; being between ages 18 and 65; having breakfast before donating (such as tea or juice); not having had dengue symptoms in the last month; abstaining from excessive alcohol consumption for at least twelve hours before donating; not smoking two hours before or after donating; not having tattoos or piercings done recently; and not being pregnant or breastfeeding.
