Call for blood as row rages
2004-12-06 20:09
Johannesburg - The South African National Blood Service appealed for blood on Monday ahead of the holiday season.
But, the row about "black blood" being thrown out continues raging.
As the appeal for blood went out, a meeting was taking place with the department of health to clarify issues surrounding its racial-profiling policies.
The confirmation that race formed one of many criteria the service used to establish the safety of blood and the presence of diseases like HIV/Aids led to an uproar and an urgent meeting with the department last week.
A statement issued after the meeting said methods used to determine risk would be reviewed and "race will not be used to determine blood risk level".
However, it was not immediately clear whether the service, a non-profit organisation which operates under a licence issued by the department, would stop using race when profiling the safety of blood.
Will continue with present methods
"I don't know," said director of donor services Diane de Koning; she had not received any instructions on the matter.
"Until we get instructions from the minister of health, and until they tell us what measures to take to ensure everyone gets the safest blood possible, we will continue using the present methods."
She said Monday's meeting was called to clarify the health department's statement.
The profiling included gender, geographical location, the history of the donor and their racial group.
According to a statement from blood service CEO Anthon Heyns, this was an internationally accepted method of ensuring blood safety.
The sample questionnaire on the service's website includes questions about sexual activity and whether the donor has HIV/Aids or has been exposed to the virus in addition to other illnesses like malaria.
A Sunday news report said President Thabo Mbeki's public blood donation had not been used because his doctor asked that he not complete the questionnaire.
Monday's meeting started at 16:00 and further information was not immediately available.
Meanwhile, the service's publicist, Mercia van der Westhuizen, appealed to the public to continue donating blood.
"People are getting emotional, but please don't stop donating blood," she said.
Need to start building stocks
They only had 5.3 days' supplies, instead of their ideal eight days and they expected this to drop during the festive season with its corresponding increase in accidents.
It was too soon to tell whether there had been a drop in donations since the racial profiling policy became public, she said.
"I will update everybody as soon as I know what the outcome of that meeting is, but it is extra important to realise that patients in hospital need blood... and we need to start building stocks to cope with all the car accidents," she said.
"Each and every member of the public who knows they are leading a safe lifestyle must come forward to give blood."
- SAPA