Thai Red Cross clarifies blood donation charges are for service not sale
The Thai Red Cross Society’s National Blood Centre clarified that the blood donated and subsequently delivered across the nation’s hospitals is not up for sale. However, recipients are required to cover a service fee.
This clarification came to light via the National Blood Centre’s website in response to a Facebook post claiming the Thai Red Cross Society was profiting from blood donations by having hospitals charge recipients 2,100 baht per bag of blood.
Denouncing the Facebook message as a misrepresentation of facts, the centre clarified that the 2,100 baht fee was not for the blood itself, but rather a service charge. This charge, stipulated by the Comptroller General’s Department, is put in place to cover various expenses. These expenses include the cost of blood bags, test tubes, solutions required for blood group tests, blood separation, laboratory usage, storage, and quality control measures.
The centre further explained that this practice aligns with the guiding principles of the World Health Organisation and the International Red Cross, which are aimed at eradicating the commercialisation of blood.
Thailand has strict laws on blood donation regarding criteria for foreigners who would like to donate blood.
Numerous potential donors faced rejection owing to having resided in the UK for more than three months between 1980 and 1996 or spending over five years in France or Ireland between 1980 and 2001. These criteria, associated with the WHO, are linked to the Mad Cow outbreak and the potential transmission of its human equivalent, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), through blood transfusions. Such standards are prevalent in various countries, including the United States.
Additional factors contributing to the rejection of potential donors encompassed age, with individuals over 60 being ineligible, and those attempting their first-time blood donation in Thailand or having resided in the country for less than six months, thereby excluding most tourists. Consequently, Thailand is categorised among countries with more stringent blood donation standards, reported Bangkok Post.
Criticism of stringent criteria
Critics argue that Thailand’s criteria are overly restrictive, preventing expats willing to contribute during crises from donating blood. Some individuals claim that, based on these criteria, they may never donate blood in Thailand, despite having successfully done so in multiple other countries. The Thai Red Cross’s blood donation form, easily accessible through an online Google search, outlines most of these criteria.
This stringent approach particularly disadvantages Rhesus-negative individuals, especially those with O-negative blood types, as they can only receive blood from fellow Rhesus-negative individuals, with O-negative individuals reliant solely on O-negative donors. Unfortunately, O Rhesus negative blood is exceedingly rare among Thais (1 in 1,000 people), whereas in many Western populations, the prevalence is 1 in 15.
Consequently, despite the potential to address Rhesus negative blood or platelet crises, the pool of eligible donors in Thailand is significantly diminished due to these stringent criteria, predominantly affecting foreigners, particularly Westerners or those of Caucasian descent.
