Only 3% of the population are blood donors and approximately 9% of these are O negative, and the IBTS needs to collect 3,000 units of blood every week to maintain the national blood supply. The surge in Covid-19 cases has also affected blood donation appointments, with more blood being issued to hospitals than being collected.
The IBTS said this week that it is in urgent need of blood donations to see it through Christmas and beyond, with Storm Barra costing the service around 300 donations in recent weeks. This marks the second time in 2021 that the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) has imported blood from the UK’s NHS Blood and Transplant unit. Nikola Stojadinovic via Getty Images After a long wait, gay and bisexual men are able to donate blood more freely, following an overhaul of dehumanising blood donation rules.
More than 400 units of blood are being imported into Ireland this week in response to a shortage in supply. has been campaigning for this to be lifted and explains here what changes to our deferral policy for blood donations this will bring ? /gSuKTnL0YT- Fianna Fáil December 22, 2021 Minister has endorsed the lifting of the one-year deferral policy on gay and bisexual men donating blood. A progressive move that I hope will be widely welcomed." "This is an important step and follows a report to the Irish Blood Transfusion Service Board by an independent advisory group chaired by Professor Mary Horgan. This is an interim measure while the Irish Blood Transfusion Service introduces new technology, to replace the existing paper health and lifestyle questionnaire (HLQ). "The initial phase will reduce the existing 12-month deferral for MSM to four months. After the donation, the donor specialist will remove. Approximately 1 pint of blood is drawn, which takes approximately 10 minutes. The donor specialist will clean your arm and use a sterile blood donation kit to draw blood from a vein in your arm.
The changes will be introduced in two phases with the initial phase being introduced by the end of March 2022 and the second phase being introduced later in 2022. One of the chief epidemiologists in Iceland has urged the government to lift the ban on gay and bisexual men from donating blood. If you meet all the requirements, you’ll be escorted to a bed in the donor room. He tweeted: "We are introducing changes to our deferral policy for blood donations from men who have sex with men (MSM). Mr Donnelly said that policy would change in two phases from March.