Blood donor screening necessary
To ensure patients receive the safest possible blood, the Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service (BTS) puts in place safety checks including pre-donation donor screening and testing of donated blood.
To ensure patients receive the safest possible blood, the Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service (BTS) puts in place safety checks including pre-donation donor screening and testing of donated blood.
In Hong Kong, the safety standards of blood are determined by the Hospital Authority (BTS) Blood and Blood Products Expert Panel which is comprised of independent experts in medicine and law.
In setting standards, evidence from research and epidemiology, best practices and local situation are considered, but no reference whatsoever is given to gender, sexual orientation or social group. Once formulated, the BTS has to follow the standards strictly.
Donor screening is necessary for determining whether they are in good health to donate and that their blood will be safe for recipients.
Prior to giving blood, every potential donor is required to respond to a health questionnaire which covers all aspects of the respondent's health status and includes risks of blood-borne infectious and other diseases.
Concerning HIV, Department of Health statistics showed reported cases due to man-to-man sex had been increasing locally. It is still considered one of the most high-risk of exposure to HIV in Hong Kong. "Safe sex" practices may reduce the risk but will it be a sufficient guarantee to convince the public to accept donors based on subjective statement of "safe sex" or belief in lack of risks? Would patients accept it if the BTS screened donors without asking specifically the risk?
A person deferred for blood donation does not mean that his or her blood is tainted. Our man-to-man sex deferral policy in no way implies that any or all homosexual men are HIV-positive and is not discriminatory. We also defer donors for other infections based on risk exposure, for example, people who stayed in Britain, in relation to variant Creutzfeld-Jacob ("mad-cow") disease. To screen donors effectively and efficiently while achieving the set safety standards, we have to practise such broad deferral criteria and always, most importantly, to err on the side of caution. It would only take one instance of transfusion-related HIV infection to jeopardise public confidence.
We welcome people from all walks of life to give blood to support our life-saving mission while continuing our duty to exercise caution for the protection of patients. There is nothing outdated about such a duty.
