Singapore eases blood donation restriction to expand donor pool
Source: Straits Times
Potential blood donors who have for decades been unable to give blood can soon do so, as Singapore lifts a longstanding restriction aimed at curbing the spread of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), or mad cow disease. Health Minister Ong Ye Kung has made an appeal for those with O+ and O- blood types to give blood and raise national blood stocks, and launched a new award to encourage more youth to become regular donors.
As vCJD can incubate in a person for several decades and there are no reliable screening tests for it, many countries have taken a blunt approach by disallowing blood donation from people who have lived for a period in countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. Current scientific evidence shows that the risk of vCJD transmission from transfusion of blood that has had the white blood cells removed from it is low. Countries such as the United States and Australia have lifted the geographical risk restrictions.
However, donors affected by the curbs will be allowed to do only apheresis donation for now, as this method uses a machine to allow direct collection of blood with the white blood cells removed.
Those interested in donating blood this way can contact the Health Sciences Authority’s (HSA) blood bank in Outram.
Earlier this month, stocks of blood types O+, O- and AB- were low, according to the Singapore Red Cross (SRC) website.
Type O blood is important as O- is the universal blood type for transfusions, while more than 80 per cent of the population can receive O+ blood. More than 34,000 patients benefited from blood donations in 2022.
Blood donation typically gets disrupted during the June school holidays as people returning to Singapore from certain countries are not allowed to donate blood for a number of weeks, Mr Ong said.
“So my appeal to donors and potential donors is to make it a habit to donate blood before you travel, whether now, during the National Day public holiday or towards the year end. This will help to raise our blood stocks to healthy and sustainable levels.”
A new award for young blood donors will honour those aged 16 to 25 who achieve 20 donations by the age of 25 – an average of two blood donations a year over a decade. On Saturday, 39 people received this Youthphoria award.
Less than 2 per cent of Singapore’s residential population are blood donors. Despite a 7 per cent increase in the total number of blood donors, the proportion of youth donors aged 16 to 25 fell by 10 per cent from 2021 to 2022. In 2021, youth made up 20 per cent of all blood donors. More than a decade ago in 2011, they accounted for 33 per cent.