Joana maldonado
06/01/2022 | Cancun Quintana Roo
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Within the framework of Three Kings Day, the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) carries out the campaign Donate a Little Magic Donating Blood, in favor of girls and boys with cancer, by virtue, explains the director of the Regional General Hospital (HGR) 17 in Cancun, María Teresa Ramos Hernández, that donating blood is an “act of immense love”, in addition to how complex it is to obtain blood components that are required to improve the health of minors.
Through the State Reference Center for Boys and Girls with Cancer (OncoCREAN) at clinic 17, the IMSS cares for minors with this disease, the most common being leukemia; To date, they have 34 male and female patients with this disease whose origin is in the blood cells.
“They require platelets or blood packets to be passed to them and it is very difficult for us to obtain these blood components, and the only way to obtain them is through donation,” he said.
By virtue of this, on January 6 and 7 the IMSS carries out the campaign for altruistic blood donation, “as an act of love for patients who do not know each other, and making a difference for their recovery.”
From seven hours, in the Regional Hospital under all the health security protocols, donors can go to the blood bank to donate specifically for children with cancer.
The goal is to collect blood from 140 donors, 70 per day, since that is the attention span of the blood bank; in case there are more interested, more days will be opened.
He stressed that the need for blood is constant because this is the largest IMSS referral hospital in the state and because the characteristics of the patients, such as accidents, pregnant women, cancer patients and hemodialysis generate a high demand.
In addition, he said, during the pandemic voluntary donors decreased, as people are afraid to go to hospitals.
“Blood cannot be bought, and in the case of children with cancer the situation is not different, the need is greater, we speak of five or six donors on a regular basis to obtain the blood components and it is complicated for them, because suddenly the people who are going to help them from the family environment are ending, they can’t wait to donate every 15 days or every month, and the idea is to support them as a society and institute ”, he indicated.
The director of the HGR indicated that cancer in Mexico is the leading cause of death in children between 5 and 14 years old, with leukemia being more than 50 percent, with a survival prognosis of just 50 percent.
Edition: Laura Espejo
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