Disclosure in blood banks

Most blood banks in Mumbai have done away with professional donors and now depend on voluntary blood donation. Patients needing blood must procure a donor. This donor will be checked for Hb levels (only) and bled. Later, if the donor’s blood tests positive for HIV or Hepatitis B, the patient (for whom the donation is made) is refused blood or replacement. Some blood banks even refuse to tell the donor the reason for not giving replacement blood.

This has been done ostensibly at the behest of the Supreme Court, as it may attach a stigma to the donor in society. To my mind this is a ludicrous position. How can you bleed a donor brought by a recipient and refuse to give blood afterwards? Surely HIV and HbsAg testing must be done before blood collection.

This is a very serious lacuna in law and opens a whole field for mischief, malpractice and selling blood through the back door.