IDCBIS guarantees the blood supply to attend to any emergency for Pope Francis during his visit to Colombia.
The District Institute of Science, Biotechnology and Innovation in Health (IDCBIS), a center linked to the District Health Secretariat, will be in charge of supplying the necessary units of blood to Pope Francis, in case the pontiff requires it, due to an emergency.
The National Institute of Health and the Vatican Protocol Commission determined that the IDCBIS is the bank selected to offer the blood packages, consisting of red blood cells and fresh plasma, taking into account that the public blood bank is a national reference in all quality processes and has the emergency blood components requested by the Vatican.
This Tuesday, September 5, 2017, IDCBIS will deliver in custody 7 units of red blood cells and 7 units of fresh plasma, to the Colombian Air Force, at the Military Air Transport Command (CATAM), to be transported, together with the Pope, throughout his stay in Colombia and can be used in case of an emergency.
The National Institute of Health, under circular number 1000-0027, also established the technical guidelines that provide the basic administrative, management and technical tools to prepare the response mechanisms of the national network of blood banks and transfusion services, in order to provide timely response to possible health emergencies that may arise in the event of crowds.
The IDCBIS blood bank is a non-profit center, linked to the District Health Secretariat, distributes about 20% of the blood used in the capital and aims to provide blood units, primarily to public hospitals in Bogota, with the responsibility to serve the poorest and most vulnerable population.