Bookmarkers beware: Bookmarks to pages other than the home page may not work after we change servers in April Editor's Choice | This Week in BMJ | Press releases BMJ No 7126 Volume 316 News Saturday 17 January 1998 Ban on payment to donors causes blood shortage in India Blood banks and hospitals across India are reporting an acute scarcity of blood after a Supreme Court order to ban payment to donors came into effect on 1 January. Blood banks in the private sector as well as in government hospitals have turned away patients, and doctors have expressed fears that the ban will drive the trade in paid blood underground. India's annual demand for blood is about six million units but blood banks manage to collect only about three million units each year. Nearly a third comes from paid (professional) donors. Most donations are from "replacement donors" - the relatives or friends of patients who replace blood needed in emergencies. The Supreme Court's ruling two years ago was intended to improve the quality of blood and followed a controversial government sponsored study that indicated a high incidence of HIV and hepatitis B seropositivity among paid donors. India has around 1,500 blood banks, nearly 900 in the private sector. Government hospitals in India have refused to accept blood donations from paid donors for more than five years, but private blood banks have relied primarily on paid donations. The Supreme Court had recommended the creation of a National Blood Transfusion Council and given the government two years to phase out dependence on paid donors. The operators of private blood banks now blame the council for not implementing any significant programme to augment voluntary blood donations. "The result is that today we have a tremendous shortage of blood, and patients are suffering," said Divya Lal, secretary of the Indian Association of Blood Banks. The operators of private blood banks say that the government study indicating high HIV and hepatitis B seropositivity among paid donors was based on merely 120 donors. "Blood from professional donors is perhaps the safest because they are repeatedly tested for infection, as often as once every three months," said Mr Lal. A report from India's National AIDS Control Organisation last year said that HIV seropositivity among paid donors was 0.3%, compared with 0.42% among voluntary donors and 0.5% in replacement donors. Ganapati Mudur New Delhi Home | Current issue | Past issues | Classified ads | Career Focus | Feedback Collections | About this site | About the BMJ | BMA | Medline