Shorter intervals between donations

The Ministry of Health's latest amendments to the Whole Blood and Component Donor Selection Requirement are in response to a shortage of donated blood, which continues to be a problem in China despite the government's efforts to raise people's awareness about the need for blood.

Even though China's Blood Donation Law introduced in 1998 encouraged all citizens between the age of 18 and 55 to donate blood, only 84 out of 10,000 people donate blood in China.

This is far below the 454 people out of every 10,000 people who donate blood in high-income countries.

Among the nine changes introduced, the new requirement increases the maximum age for donors by five years to 60. Although potential donors over 55 years old must be in good health and have made at least three blood donations in the past without any side effects.

In most foreign countries, people up to the age of 65 are allowed to make whole blood donations. In Canada, someone who has donated blood before can continue to donate up until 70 years of age.

It was reported that more than 10 senior residents over the age of 55 came to donate blood in Urumqi, the capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, during the first week after the changes cam into effect.

However, according to the ministry, more than 80 percent of donors in China are between 20 to 45 years old and raising the maximum age limit is unlikely to significantly increase the amount of blood donated. So the intervals between an individual's donations have also been adjusted.

The platelet collection interval has been reduced from four to two months, with the total number of donations limited to no more than 24 within a year, while the interval between a whole blood donation and platelet donation is now a minimum of three months.

yangwanli@chinadaily.com.cn