Questions for blood donors about relationships with someone from sub-Saharan Africa are discriminatory.
More Black people will be able to give blood after the government announced it would remove a “discriminatory” safety question from its donor forms.
Donors preparing to give blood will no longer be asked whether they have recently had sex with someone who has previously been sexually active in regions where HIV is endemic. This includes most of sub-Saharan Africa.
I’d say that was indeed discriminatory. That doesn’t make it a wrong question to ask, though. Sometimes being discriminatory is right and proper and this is an example. Now, it seems, the safety of recipients takes second place to the feelz of people who might think the question racist.
The change has been approved by scientific advisers, who have deemed it safe and will conduct a review 12 months after it is implemented.
Oh, well, that’s okay then…
Sajid Javid, the health secretary, said in a statement: “This is another progressive step forward, focusing on individual behaviours, rather than blanket deferrals, and reducing limitations for people to donate blood.
The question did focus on individual behaviours. That word “progressive” says it all. Never mind the safety of the poor sod who is given infected blood as a consequence of this decision.
I gave blood all my adult life,somewhere well over 100 donations. I emigrated to New Zealand and was astounded to learn that I cannot give blood here.The reason ? I was living in the UK at the time of Bovine Encephalitis and they feel there is an infinitesimal chance I might have brought it with me.
We are still living with Covid restrictions in the South Island even though there has been no case here for over 12 months. Madness.
When I moved to Canada (Silver award blood donor) they too refused me as a blood donor. Yet the UK are going to allow unscreened donors from a high HIV prevalence population?
That’s not going to end well.
I’ve seen objections to this move scorned by people who say that of course, the blood is screened for disease anyway.
Because the NHS never screws up. And then lies about it.
Wasn’t there a scandal about infected blood in the fairly recent past?